Female CEOs Shortage – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1225

Female CEOs Shortage – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1225

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1225 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here.

Credit: Alena Darmel

Credit: Theo Decker

Preamble

This blog post is based on a recent INSEAD article. Link at the end.

Why the Female CEO Shortage Persists – and What Leaders Must Do About It

Despite decades of diversity commitments, women remain dramatically under-represented in the world’s top corporate seat. Even in major markets in 2025, women hold only a small fraction of CEO roles across leading companies such as the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250, a stagnation that persists despite a clear pipeline of capable female leaders.

This gap isn’t due to a lack of talent. High-performing women are already delivering results at senior levels. The real challenge lies in how organizations identify, develop, and support leaders, and how both women and those who influence executive pipelines perceive the path to the top.

Drawing on research involving in-depth interviews with female CEOs and a systematic review of corporate practices, this article outlines why the “female CEO problem” endures, and how boards, executive teams, HR leaders, and women themselves can act decisively to close the gap

The Pipeline Is There but the System Is Not Set Up to Recognize It

One of the most revealing findings from the INSEAD research is that the shortage of women CEOs isn’t due to absence of talent; it is due to systemic and cultural barriers that narrow the leadership pipeline long before women reach the top.

Despite substantial evidence of capable women driving organizational performance, many companies continue to rely on outdated criteria when assessing CEO readiness, privileging pedigree, narrow career pathways, and past titles over leadership potential and results.

This creates a self-reinforcing cycle: boards default to male candidates who resemble existing leaders, women are less likely to be developed into CEO contenders, and the lack of female CEOs reinforces the perception that women aren’t “ready.” The result? A bottleneck that’s structural, not individual.

Boards must redefine what “CEO material” looks like, expanding criteria beyond traditional checklists and ensuring diverse candidate slates (for example, requiring that executive shortlists are 50/50 by gender).

Self-Selection Bias: When Women Opt Out Before They’re Even Considered

A striking insight from the interviews with female CEOs is the role of self-selection bias; the tendency for women to apply for senior roles only when they feel they completely meet all criteria, while many male peers pursue opportunities with far less confidence.

Many of the female leaders reported feeling they needed to be “120% ready” before stepping forward, even when they had experience and capability equal to, or surpassing, male colleagues who advanced with much less.

This is not a lack of ambition. It reflects how women have been conditioned to equate readiness with perfection and to internalize cultural narratives about leadership sacrifice, especially the belief that senior roles are incompatible with family life.

Leaders must recognize that organizational cultures and informal expectations contribute to this dynamic. When women believe they must choose between career and family, a belief often reinforced by the workplace environment and absence of visible role models, top roles appear less accessible than they really are.

Myths About Leadership Endure, and They Hurt Women Most

The INSEAD research identifies several enduring myths about leadership that disproportionately disadvantage women.

Elite pedigree is essential: Many assume top roles require top institutions or elite education, yet most women CEOs in the study did not come from such backgrounds.

Leadership and family are incompatible: A pervasive narrative suggests women must choose between career and parenthood — despite evidence that most women CEOs have families and long-term partners who support them.

Leaders must behave like men: The belief that success requires adopting traditionally male leadership styles, aggressive, detached, domineering, continues to shape promotion decisions. Many women initially tried to adopt these traits only to find that authentic leadership that blends empathy with decisiveness was more effective.

These myths create double standards, especially around assertiveness. While assertive behavior from men is often viewed as confident, the same behavior in women can be labelled negatively. This bias undermines women’s performance evaluations, promotions, and ultimately, their progression to the CEO seat.

Sponsorship, Not Just Mentorship, Is Critical

One of the most actionable insights from the research is the distinction between mentorship and sponsorship, and why the latter matters more for advancement.

Mentors advise; sponsors open doors.

Many women in the study reported having mentors who gave great advice but no sponsors who actively pushed them into P&L roles, senior succession tracks, or visible leadership opportunities. Without sponsors advocating on their behalf, especially in rooms and forums where succession decisions are made, women were often overlooked for the experiences that later count most.

Boards and executive teams must actively sponsor high-potential women into turnaround assignments, operational leadership, and profit-and-loss responsibility, the kinds of crucible experiences that prepare leaders for the top job.

At the same time, organizations must equip male sponsors to recognize and mitigate bias, ensuring they champion diverse talent with the same intensity they would any other high-potential leader.

Structural Barriers Must Become Strategic Priorities

Flexible work arrangements, parental leave, and re-integration support are often present on paper, but they are not always normalized or encouraged at senior levels. Women who balance leadership ambitions with family responsibilities can still face subtle penalties, from being perceived as less committed to being excluded from stretch assignments.

To truly change outcomes, organizations must treat flexibility and support structures as strategic business priorities, not just “nice-to-haves.” That means:

• Normalizing flexible leadership schedules

• Encouraging all leaders, male and female, to take parental leave

• Embedding re-integration support after career breaks

• Celebrating leaders who demonstrate balanced career and life design as role models for others

Make Role Models Visible, and Inclusive

A recurring theme from the female CEOs interviewed is the psychological cost of being “the only woman in the room”, often for entire careers.

This isolation affects confidence, limits informal network access, and reinforces the invisible message that leadership isn’t “for women.” To break this cycle, organizations must make female role models highly visible, not as exceptions, but as normalized examples of success.

Organizations can publish stories of women leaders who successfully integrate career and family, highlight diverse leadership journeys, not just the “perfect path”, and facilitate early-career conversations with women about ambition, life stage, and strategic choices.

When women see leaders who look and think like them, and know these leaders were supported, not just tolerated, the pipeline builds confidence and momentum.

Sum Up

The INSEAD research makes one thing unequivocally clear: the female CEO problem is not about talent; it is about systems, culture, and collective will.

Boards must broaden criteria and demand diversity. Sponsors must open doors. Organizations must normalize flexibility and structural support. Women must challenge internalized bias about readiness and reclaim the narrative of leadership. Only when all stakeholders step up will the pipeline produce not just female leaders, but leaders period, irrespective of gender.

Because leadership diversity isn’t just about fairness; it is about organizational strength, competitiveness, and inclusive governance in a complex world.

Concluded.

Disclaimers: Pictures in these blogs are taken from free resources at Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, and Google. Credit is given where available. If a copyright claim is lodged, we shall remove the picture with appropriate regrets.

For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, any claim is lodged, it will be acknowledged and duly recognized immediately.

Reference:

https://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-organisations/female-ceo-problem-solutions