What do you need to innovate in the Transformative Age? You need diversity. You need men. And you need women. Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but it is also linked to a country’s overall economic performance. Organizations where women hold nearly 30% of leadership positions could add up to 6% to their net margins.

Therefore it makes no business sense to overlook diversity as a part of a business strategy. In fact, doing so only diminishes opportunities for sustained economic growth, innovation and social progress.

So if women are critical for innovation and long-term growth, why are we still an estimated 202 years away from achieving gender parity in the workplace?

The uphill battle

Despite the gender gap narrowing slightly this past year according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2018, women still face an uphill battle in leadership positions. And, it turns out, the higher women climb, the more biases, challenges and stereotypes they face. 

Interestingly, though, when women are appointed to the top job, it’s usually at a time of a crisis – when an organization is grappling with a financial crisis or other challenges and may even be on the verge of collapse. This phenomenon was coined the ‘glass cliff’ by British academics Michelle Ryan and Alex Haslam who in 2004 published findings from an extensive study of FTSE 100 companies and found a tendency for women to be appointed leaders of failing organizations.

While more women are breaking through the glass ceiling, by accepting roles in troubled companies or challenging times in government, they often risk being held responsible for outcomes that were set in motion well ahead of their appointments.

Take a few notable examples:

• Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir became Iceland’s first female prime minister and the world’s first openly gay head of government amidst economic and political fallout from the global financial crisis. She stabilized Iceland’s economy in a relatively short period of time.
• Former Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy, is often deemed a ‘glass-cliff’ success story. She took over as CEO in 2001 as Xerox was on the verge of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and a year later, following an aggressive restructure, the company reported an operating profit.
• It’s encouraging to see women being called upon to lead in times of crises – and succeed at the highest levels. But despite their success, they are still being fired – even after they’ve fixed the problem.

In fact, female CEOs are about 45% more likely than male CEOs to be dismissed from their own companies. And, strangely, while improved organizational performance may protect a male CEO against being fired, the same does not hold true for women. In other words, women face greater challenges when appointed to leadership positions and are provided fewer opportunities to establish their leadership capabilities.