Accelerating Women as Leaders
April 3, 2025
A recap of the session featuring Sharon Peake, Founder and CEO of Shape Talent, in conversation with Alexandra Anderson, Construction Partner at RPC and Chair of FIG. The event was jointly hosted by FIG, The Centre for Legal Leadership, Shape Talent, and Quorum Initiative.
“Right now, a man is four times more likely than a woman starting her career at the same time to make it to the C suite. It would take 140 years – or four to five generations – for that imbalance to remedy itself naturally.”
– Sharon Peake, Founder and CEO, Shape Talent
In the run up to International Women’s Day 2025, CLL collaborated with Shape Talent, FIG and The Quorum Initiative to co-host Accelerating women as leaders – a live event held at RPC’s riverside HQ at Tower Bridge, London.
Sharon Peake, CPsychol has conducted extensive research into barriers to women’s career progression. Her findings, coupled with her significant corporate experience, laid the groundwork for Shape Talent’s evidence-based solutions: the Three Barriers model®.
Barrier type 1 – societal
Gender stereotypes and social conditioning create significant barriers for women. How we’re socialised from a young age set the tone for how women are perceived and treated throughout their lives. Additionally, structural barriers, such as access to affordable childcare, and poor representation of women in politics, exacerbate societal barriers.
Barrier type 2 – organisational
The hurdles experienced in the workplace also hamper women’s progress more than men’s. ‘Always on’ cultures, for example, disadvantage women, who generally have more demands on their time – often carrying the lion’s share of child care and housekeeping responsibilities in the home. Similarly, reduced access to networks can reduce opportunities for women to take on assignments that can lead to meaningful progression.
“Many people think that gender equality is no longer a major issue but too many women are having to work much harder than their male counterparts to advance in their career.”
– Helen Evans, Founding Partner, The Listening People and Co-chapter Lead, The Quorum Initiative London
Barrier type 3 – personal
These are subtle, invisible and sub-conscious things happening inside us. They influence the choices we make around grasping opportunities, advocating for ourselves, and navigating the work-life balance. We’re all different so the impact of personal barriers varies hugely from one woman to another.
The 4Ds
“Numerous studies have shown that the more diverse an organisation is, the more effective it is. If you want to work for a high performing business, choose a diverse one.”
– Alexandra Anderson, Construction Partner, RPC, Chair, FIG
Underpinning the three barrier types are a wider range of obstacles that governments, educators and organisations can be instrumental in removing. Homing in on the barriers most prevalent in the workplace, Sharon presented the 4Ds:
The double burden – across the world (and accounting for regional variations) women spend around four hours each day on unpaid work such as childcare, elder care, cooking and housework. For men it’s an hour and a half. This difference becomes particularly acute when you account for sleeping, commuting, socialising and hobbies, and quickly you can see how there aren’t enough hours in the day for it all. It’s a key reason for women either underperforming or opting out of the leadership pipeline – resulting in their underrepresentation in senior roles;
The double bind – a confidence trade-off. Behaviours central to leadership such as confidence, assertiveness, ambition and decisiveness heighten a man’s popularity yet lessen a woman’s likability. Repeated studies have shown that the more successful a man becomes, the more likable he is. The inverse is true for women, giving them a difficult choice their male counterparts don’t have to make;
Discrimination and everyday sexism – and not just blatant acts of discrimination. Microaggressions matter, too. They include small behaviours such as being interrupted, being mistaken for someone more junior and being on the receiving end of poor taste jokes. In isolation, microaggressions might seem small and innocuous. However, if they accumulate and remain unchallenged, they become big problems. This is especially true for people at the intersection of more than one system of discrimination. Surveys, show, for example, that a woman with a disability will be subject to more microaggressions than a woman without disability; and
The development gap – women don’t enjoy the same level of sponsorship opportunities as men. Unlike mentorships where mentors share their knowledge with you, a sponsor will share their power to raise your visibility. Disparity between men’s and women’s access to sponsorship arises partly from how we network. We tend to network with people like us which means that, statistically, a woman’s network will feature fewer leaders than a man’s, given men hold most leadership positions. Additionally, women have access to fewer stretch assignments and receive less helpful developmental feedback. Collectively this diminishes women’s progression opportunities.
Bringing the barriers down
“The event, being based on data and experience, offered practical solutions that we can action immediately.”
– Theresa Rynard, Partner, 4See Advisory, Member Board of Trustees, INSIDE OUT for Children
Joining Sharon onstage to discuss ways to unleash women’s leadership potential was Alexandra Anderson, Construction Partner at RPC and Chair of FIG. Alexandra moderated questions from the audience and discussed with Sharon a range of strategies to tackle barriers to women’s career advancement. They included:
Looking at established systems and structures. Meetings, for example, are microcosms of organisational cultures. Who gets to contribute, who gets air time and who’s influencing decisions? By actively taking note of dynamics in meetings, we can redress imbalances in contributions, ensure everyone has a voice and make people feel valued.
Noticing microaggressions and discriminatory behaviours. Sometimes these are labelled and treated differently by men and women, most noticeably in respect of the double bind. Talk about these behaviours openly. Others will notice, the issue will gain momentum and change will become possible.
Calling in. Calling on. Calling out. When you notice behaviours or microagressions, call the offender in to discuss it. If necessary, call on someone else to help move the conversation forward. If the outcome is unsatisfactory, call the behaviour out by bringing it to wider attention.
Sponsoring women. If you’re in a leadership role, use your reach to raise the visibility of female colleagues. It doesn’t have to part of a formal scheme (but if you’re able to instigate one, even better). If you’re not in a leadership role, you can still amplify colleagues in meetings and interactions in the workplace.
“It’s so important to develop and support the great women in our business. We especially need to help them rebuild their client base when they return to work from maternity leave.”
– Rajen Rajput, Senior Manager, MDD Forensic Accountants
Being flexible. Are meetings, especially those involving people across geographic time zones, encroaching on people’s personal time? Do they end on time? Are working hours family friendly?
Recognising a person’s full contribution. Pastoral care, being a go-to person among colleagues and other valuable contributions outside a colleague’s official job description are often overlooked during appraisals. Make a point of looking beyond the JD when evaluating someone’s true value to the organisation.
Involving men in the conversation. Men can help by showing curiosity and asking the women in their lives – colleagues, friends, family members – about their experiences of the barriers. The more awareness we raise, the sooner we can create solutions.
“Events like this are a wonderful opportunity to bring men into the conversation about equality”
– Carolina Maia, UK-based Programme Executive
BuILD your career
And finally, if you’re facing any or all the barriers discussed at the event, build your career with these four empowering tips:
Build a support crew comprising sponsors, coaches and mentors;
Invest in yourself. Put yourself forward for new opportunities even if you’re not 100% ready for them;
Leverage your network. Build your network around three types of people – those who can help you operationally in your current role, those who can help you progress your career and those who can support your professional development; and
Divide unpaid work fairly at home.
Accelerating women as leaders was jointly hosted by:
FIG, an inclusive network for insurance sector professionals, providing opportunities to connect, learn, and grow through mentoring, training and events;
The Centre for Legal Leadership (CLL), the community and knowledge hub for everyone in in-house legal teams regardless of sector, organisation, location or seniority. Run by in-house for in-house, CLL supports individuals and teams through training, webinars, events, knowledge library and coaching;
Shape Talent, the award-winning gender equity consultancy that partners with multinational organisations serious about gender equality. We help you make sustainable change leading to diverse, inclusive cultures where people and business thrive; and
The Quorum Initiative, a member-based organisation in New York, Washington, D.C., and London. The Quorum Initiative empowers executive women to raise their voices, spark action and break down barriers by providing support, resources and community and drive lasting change for future generations.
