Women in Leadership: Persistent Barriers to Gender Equality in the C-Suite

Pamela Jeffery, HBA ’84, MBA ’88, has been smashing barriers since her teens, when she was elected the first female student council president of her high school. As an Ivey HBA student in the early-1980s, almost half her class was female. That number dropped to only 20% when she continued with her Ivey MBA.

After graduation, Jeffery landed a job at Canada’s first female-led lobbying firm. Things went well until she decided to start a family. “I was the first professional at the firm to get pregnant,” says Jeffery. “That was frowned upon, and I lost a promotion.”

When her second child developed a serious health condition as a newborn, Jeffery asked to work a four-day week. “I was told it was full-time, or no time,” she recalls. So, like many women who wish to combine motherhood with professional success, Jeffery left the company and went out on her own.

“I became an entrepreneur, not out of choice, but out of necessity,” she says.

Stories like Jeffery’s remain all too common. While women have made considerable professional gains – now accounting for almost half of the U.S. and Canadian labour force – they still struggle to rise to the highest levels of leadership.

The 2021 Women in the Workplace study by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org is the largest study of women in corporate America. It surveyed more than 65,000 employees from 423 participating organizations and found that although 48% of entry-level positions in the United States are held by women, female representation drops with every step up the corporate ladder. By the C-suite, only 24% of positions are occupied by women.

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Nicole Laidler is a freelance reporter, copywriter and content creator, serving clients in London, Toronto and throughout Southwestern Ontario. She helps people grow their success, one word at a time.