Executive Summary

Barriers for Women in Top Leadership Roles

Up to the twenty-first century, there was a maze of barriers for women seeking top leadership roles in the business world; the glass ceiling no longer exists. Women's past obstacles, such as gender inequality and the misconception that their position is not in leadership, have been eliminated. However, the percentage of women in positions of power remains low. As a result, most women are discouraged from ascending to top leadership positions in businesses because they are not assertive. A lack of such quality manifests itself in a variety of ways, such as an inability to trust in oneself. They do not perceive themselves as capable leaders and leave this responsibility to men. Also, they do not have a set of definite goals for their career life. As a result, they do not assertively take the path towards success. They sway with the tide of current situations in the workplace. In addition, they fail to differentiate personal life and professional work leading to failure at work. In some cases, women are not ambitious enough to go for top leadership in big companies and are afraid of facing the challenges associated with these positions (Smith, 2007). When faced with challenges at work, they do not face them with assertiveness. Most women resign from the positions of leadership when the going gets tough (Cook & Glass, 2016).

Turning the Trend Around

However, women can turn this trend around by taking a training course in time management and setting clear goals to achieve. Likewise, they can organize themselves into welfare associations for edifying each other and for assisting in networking in the corporate world (Wisestep, 2016).