The Broken Rung: Why Women Aren't Climbing the Leadership Ladder and How to Fix It
"New research reveals the hidden barriers preventing women from advancing in their careers, and offers actionable strategies for organizations to level the playing field."
For decades, organizations and policymakers have focused on demand-side factors to explain why women are underrepresented in leadership positions. Efforts like implementing quotas and debiasing hiring practices are essential, but they only address part of the problem. A growing body of evidence suggests that labor supply decisions also play a significant role, meaning that women may be opting out of leadership roles for reasons that haven't been fully understood.
Traditional data on promotions, often measured by pay increases or occupational changes, makes it difficult to pinpoint the specific factors that make climbing the leadership ladder less appealing to women. While some studies have explored preferences for different dimensions of leadership, such as power or authority, these often lack the nuances of real-world workplaces.
New research provides compelling evidence that one particular aspect of leadership – responsibility for a team – plays a significant role in women's decisions to seek early-career promotions. By examining a large firm's application and vacancy data, combined with detailed personnel records and survey responses, the study reveals a 'broken rung' on the leadership ladder: women are substantially less likely to apply for promotions that involve managing a team.
Women's Rights and Gender Equality Today
Globally, women continue to face systemic barriers to full participation in society and leadership. Reproductive rights and broader women's rights remain contested in many regions, with some countries actively denying women fundamental freedoms. Violence against women, primarily committed by men, persists as a widespread issue. Feminist movements around the world continue to push for gender equality across political, economic, and social spheres.
Women's Traditional Roles and Structural Burdens
Historically, women have shouldered disproportionate responsibilities, often raising children while simultaneously tending food crops to support their families — sometimes without any assistance from their husbands. This unequal distribution of labor meant women bore the greater burden in many societies. While progress has been made in some contexts, the pace of change has often been slow, particularly in societies with conservative leadership. These entrenched expectations around women's roles continue to shape barriers to leadership advancement today.
A Brief Note on Historical Context
The fight for women's leadership representation is rooted in centuries of exclusion from formal power structures. While specific milestones vary by country and era, the trajectory has generally moved from outright legal exclusion toward increasing — though still incomplete — inclusion. Without dedicated historical data on this particular topic, it is worth noting that progress has been neither linear nor universal, and significant gaps remain across regions and industries.
The Team Leadership Disconnect: Unveiling the Real Reasons Women Aren't Applying
The research, based on data from over 30,000 white-collar and management employees, reveals a significant gender gap in applications for early-career promotions. This gap isn't fully explained by factors like family constraints, confidence levels, or perceived likelihood of success. Instead, the study points to a key feature of many promotions: the requirement to assume responsibility for a team.
- Administrative Burden: Managing large teams often involves a significant amount of administrative work.
- Conflict Resolution: Team leaders are frequently required to resolve conflicts within their teams or between their teams and upper management.
The State of Research on Women in Leadership
Research on the so-called 'broken rung' — the critical first step from entry-level to management where women disproportionately fall behind — remains an evolving area of study. While organizational behavior research has identified patterns of bias in hiring and promotion, comprehensive longitudinal data on women's leadership pipelines is still developing. It is important to approach emerging findings with appropriate caution, as methodologies and sample sizes vary across studies.
Skepticism and Unresolved Debates
Some argue that the 'broken rung' framing oversimplifies a multifaceted issue, pointing to intersectional factors such as race, class, and geography that compound gender-based barriers. Others contend that meritocratic frameworks already exist to address advancement gaps, though evidence of persistent disparities challenges this view. Without a robust set of sourced data on this specific counterpoint, these debates remain unresolved and warrant further investigation.
Cross-Industry and Cross-Cultural Perspectives
The degree to which women face leadership barriers varies considerably across industries, company sizes, and cultural contexts. Some sectors have made notable gains in female representation at senior levels, while others remain heavily male-dominated at every tier. Comparative data on these differences is growing but remains unevenly distributed, making broad generalizations difficult without further research.
Leveling the Playing Field: Designing Leadership Positions that Attract Women
The study's findings offer valuable insights for organizations seeking to increase female representation in leadership roles. By tailoring the design of leadership positions to address the specific factors that deter women, organizations can create more equitable and inclusive workplaces. Some strategies for improvement include organizations offering more team leadership positions with smaller team sizes, and offering more support and information for how to navigate the challenges related to leading a team.
Pulling It All Together
The evidence suggests that gender-based barriers to leadership are both persistent and structurally embedded, though the specific mechanisms vary by context. Addressing the 'broken rung' requires coordinated action across hiring, mentorship, and organizational culture. Expert consensus leans toward systemic interventions rather than individual-level fixes, though the optimal combination of strategies is still being refined.
What Comes Next
The trajectory of women's leadership advancement will likely depend on a combination of policy interventions, corporate accountability measures, and cultural shifts. Emerging areas of focus include intersectional approaches that address overlapping forms of disadvantage, as well as data-driven tools for tracking promotion pipeline equity. While progress is anticipated, the pace and scope of change remain uncertain.
The Bigger Picture
The broken rung does not exist in isolation — it is part of a broader pattern of gender inequality that spans education, healthcare, political representation, and economic participation. Systemic challenges such as unequal caregiving burdens, biased performance evaluations, and exclusionary workplace cultures all contribute to the leadership gap. Addressing the broken rung effectively requires grappling with these interconnected issues rather than treating leadership advancement as a standalone problem.
Behind the Numbers
Behind every statistic about women's underrepresentation in leadership are real individuals whose careers and aspirations are shaped by structural barriers. The consequences extend beyond individual careers to affect team dynamics, organizational decision-making, and broader economic outcomes. Understanding the human dimension of the broken rung is essential for motivating meaningful change and ensuring that solutions are grounded in lived experience.