One Nova Scotia women’s leadership expert says many females break into “middle management” positions in their careers, but due to an issue of “unconscious bias,” company leadership is still an area disproportionately represented by males.
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“So just 4.4 per cent of all CEOs of S&P 500 companies, so some of the largest companies in the world, just 4.4 per cent of those CEOs are women,” said Eleanor Beaton, a women’s leadership and development coach.
She said while overt bias can still happen such as through online comments, a major issue in the workplace that can be very harmful to career development for women is unconscious gender bias.
“For example, if you have young children you might not be invited to take on challenging assignments,” Beaton said. “If people think you’re really sensitive and you might cry, they might not give you the kind of direct, straight-up feedback that you need to advance.”
Beaton is also a regular columnist in Atlantic Business Magazine, a magazine that published an issue this month dedicated to female entrepreneurs and leaders for the first time in its history.
The idea was a result of negative backlash received after it published an issue that featured an all-male cover on International Women’s Day last year.
“First off it’s an apology on our part, 28 years in publishing and we realized that we just didn’t have enough female voices in our publication on a regular basis,” said Dawn Chafe, executive editor of Atlantic Business Magazine.
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During the magazine’s promotional stage, the organization received negative comments online.
“Some of the commentary around the publication were coming from online trolls, who said things like, ‘We should build a wall around all women in business,’” Beaton said.
Chafe hopes that recognizing both challenges and accomplishments among female leaders will creates positive conversation for change.
“We have an opportunity to be proactive agents of positive change, to normalize the idea of women being the spokespeople, of being in the forefront, of celebrating their accomplishments,” she said.
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