Why do Black Women Leaders Leave? A Study of the Tech Sector Using Data from McKinsey/LeanIn.Org
For Black women leaders, the undermining is worse. The study found, for example, that they were 1.5 times as likely as women leaders overall to have colleagues say or imply they’re not qualified for their jobs.
The annual study of women employees and talent data across hundreds of participating companies was written by McKinsey & Company in partnership with LeanIn.Org.
The C-suite also remains predominantly male and White, according to the report. Only one in four C-suite leaders was a woman, and just 1 in 20 was a woman of color.
Flexibility is among the top three considerations when deciding to join or leave a company according to a survey of women leaders.
The tech sector has a harder time getting women into leadership roles than other industries. According to a recent report, women leaders in corporate America are more likely to leave than ever before as a result of the Pandemic. Marne Levine said she would be leaving Meta after 13 years in the position.
The McKinsey/LeanIn.Org report is based on a survey of more than 40,000 employees from 55 companies, interviews with a few dozen survey respondents, as well as research, and talent pipeline and other data from 333 companies. They represent 12 million employees in the US and Canada.
End of an Era for Women in Tech Leaders: The Case of Silicon Valley CEO Sima Sistani, Former CEO of WeightWatchers
There are still a handful of, albeit lesser-known, women in the upper echelon of tech, including Meta CFO Susan Li, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, and Lisa Su, CEO of chipmaker AMD. A well known woman in technology, such as the former head of legal, policy and trust at Twitter, has become a target of vicious online harassment campaigns.
Laura Kray, a professor of leadership at the University of California, Berkeley, said that with Wojcicki’s exit from YouTube, “it is hard to read the latest departure of a high-profile woman leader as anything but more evidence that the tech sector has not realized its stated aspirations for creating inclusive cultures that are able to attract and retain top talent.”
Sheryl Daija is the founder of Bridge, an advocacy group made up of dozens of diversity, equity, and inclusion business leaders.
As a woman in Silicon Valley, “It’s fair to say you have to fight a little harder,” said Sima Sistani, the co-founder and former CEO of the app Houseparty, who held leadership roles at Epic Games, Yahoo and Tumblr before becoming CEO of WeightWatchers last year.
Sistani said her success was due to her network of other women. “And I give a lot of credit to the women who helped support and also blaze the trail forward.”
Francoise Brougher, the former chief operating officer of Pinterest, sued the social media platform for gender discrimination and retaliation in 2020, arguing in court documents that she was fired after reporting “demeaning sexist comments” towards her from another company executive. Pinterest settled the lawsuit later that year, but the legal battle was seen as yet another example in a string of incidents highlighting how even the most powerful women in tech are treated.
Sistani brought her digital expertise as well as her experience as a woman leader in the workplace when she was hired as the CEO of WeightWatchers. Late last year, Sistani, a mother of two, expanded WeightWatchers’ paid parental leave policy, a move she viewed as crucial for driving equitable opportunities for all parents at the company.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/24/tech/end-of-an-era-for-women-tech-leaders/index.html
The Rise and Fall of Women in the C-suite: Implications for Next-Generation CEOs and the Middle Management Branches
Middle managers need representation at the very top in order to see higher career ambitions realized. Without women in the C-suite who have come before them, it could be more difficult for the next generation of women leaders.
The Bridge organization says that the exodus of high-profile women tech leaders is a good lesson in how to ensure that other women are ready to take over when a CEO steps down. “When the roles are replaced with the same representation that we already have, we don’t keep losing ground, we maintain, and we build,” she said.