In conformity with the latest Fortune 500 rating, 24 women hold senior roles in the S&P 500. Although “this year’s list comes with six new women CEOs” and, therefore, this figure is higher than at any point before, “that still represents a small percentage — 4.8% to be exact — of the overall CEOs on the list” (qtd. in Fortune.com). Some might argue that such low percentage of women in top management and corporate leadership positions occurs due to the low percentage of female employees working for the S&P 500. But that is not the case. In actual fact, “while women make up 45 percent of the labor force of the S&P 500, few are climbing to the very top” (qtd. in Washingtonpost.com).
One of the fundamental challenges that the majority of women encounter on the way to securing top management and corporate leadership positions is “holding themselves to unattainable standards”, which result in low level of self-confidence (Sandberg 9). Some women simply believe that CEO positions are for men only and that their voices would not be heard in this challenging world of modern business.
In her book ‘Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead’, Sandberg focuses on the lack of self-confidence as one of the major factors preventing women from climbing the career ladder up to the top managerial positions. This fact was quite surprising for me as I would have never thought that women are restrained by their feelings but not insufficient experience or qualifications and intellectual abilities.
As a result of reading these chapters, I strongly agree with the statement that “if we can succeed in adding more female voices at the highest levels, we will expand opportunities and extend fairer treatment to all” (Sandberg 11). I plan to change my behavioral patterns in order to become more self-confident and behave more manfully and with confidence in stressful environment or under pressure. I also plan to become more goal-oriented by establishing short-term, long-term and lifelong goals and exerting every effort to achieve them.
Works Cited
Fairchild, Caroline. "Number of Fortune 500 Women CEOs Reaches Historic High." Fortune.com. Fortune, 03 June 2014. Web. 09 Feb. 2016. <http://fortune.com/2014/06/03/number-of-fortune-500-women-ceos-reaches-historic-high/>.
Sandberg, Sheryl. Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. Knopf, 2013. Print.
Swanson, Ana. "The Number of Fortune 500 Companies Led by Women Is at an All-time High: 5 Percent." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 4 June 2015. Web. 09 Feb. 2016. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/04/the-number-of-fortune-500-companies-led-by-women-is-at-an-all-time-high-5-percent/>.
