Recent headlines about women’s leadership include: Women Rising: The Unseen Barriers; The Power of Parity: How Advancing Women’s Equality Can Add $12 Trillion to Global Growth; What’s Holding Women Back in the Workplace?; Sheryl Sandberg: When Women Get Stuck, Corporate America Gets Stuck; Educate Everyone About Second-Generation Gender Bias.

For those of us whose business is to help women achieve their full potential, none of these headlines are surprising. However well deserved it may seem, hosting a national “pity party” is counterproductive and a waste of energy. Rather, let’s view this as an opportunity to address the root causes for today’s current state of women in leadership right here in Iowa.

First of all, we need to acknowledge that we can do better! If women make up 53 percent of the population, and at least that percentage of the workforce in many Iowa organizations, is it unrealistic to aim for parity in leadership positions? The short answer: no!

Organizations like Iowa Women Lead Change (IWLC), along with other partners have set our long-term goal, but how do we go about achieving it? It all starts at the top. It means a commitment from the CEO and senior staff that women’s leadership is important to the organization AND ensuring that actions support their words. Senior leaders must advocate for and sponsor women within their organizations to advance. They must hold their direct reports accountable for eliminating barriers for women to advance. And they must purge unconscious bias and second-generation gender bias from the organization.

Once senior leadership within the organization is aligned, it’s critical that we educate all leaders within the organization so that they understand that diversity is a high priority within the organization – and explain why it is! The value of diverse thinking elicits better performance in terms of innovation, creativity and financial outcomes. Let’s give our teams the proper tools to understand and leverage our differences to improve performance and achieve corporate goals.

As we move forward, we must examine and question the roles given to women in organizations as they are groomed to assume greater leadership responsibility.  Are they strategic?  And are women and men evaluated equally? Do organizations encourage women to “go for it” and provide resources to help them succeed?

At IWLC, much of our work is focused on the individual honing her skills at the tactical level. For true change to occur in across the board leadership opportunities, organizations must evolve. We offer our CEO Forum at each IWLC Leadership Conference to provide the opportunity for strategic discussion among C-Suite peers to address issues around talent attraction, retention and development within a gender lens. 

On October 28, Chris Brassell, Price Waterhouse Coopers’ Director of the U.S. Office of Diversity, will lead a session on Engaging Men in Women’s Leadership during the CEO Forum of the IWLC Central Iowa Women’s Leadership Conference. This is one proven way we can help address the leadership gap for women and eliminate some barriers.

 With continued advancement in women’s leadership in the workplace, I look forward to news headlines like Women CEO Numbers Reach All-Time High!

Diane Ramsey, CEO of Iowa Women Lead Change (IWLC), has led the organization from a grassroots-driven once-a-year event to a statewide 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to advance women’s leadership development and excellence. 

CONNECT WITH HER: At Diane.Ramsey@IWLCLeads.org and @DianeHRamsey.