Leaders Can Support Their Female Workforce

  • San Diego, California, United States

Author:  Colette Carlson

Short Description

The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the modern workplaces and Female Workforce across the world and the United States. Unfortunately, women were disproportionately impacted sparking the “She-Cession.” According to McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace annual study, one in four women are considering stepping out or stepping back from the workplace which is unprecedented. Now more than ever, management must holistically support, encourage […]

The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the modern workplaces and Female Workforce across the world and the United States. Unfortunately, women were disproportionately impacted sparking the “She-Cession.” According to McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace annual study, one in four women are considering stepping out or stepping back from the workplace which is unprecedented.

Now more than ever, management must holistically support, encourage and prioritize their female workforce to ensure the progress women have made in the workplace isn’t reversed. To do this, leaders can focus on committing to help their female workforce on a professional, personal and company level.

Professional Commitment

One important theme that affects women in the workplace is the stagnant position many of them hold. Rather than being set up for success and moving up the corporate ladder, women, especially women of color, aren’t advancing professionally compared to their male counterparts. In fact, a recent study shows that for every 100 men promoted to a manager, only 86 women were promoted. To turn this around, leaders can:

  1. Invest in their Success. Key to optimizing and retaining talent demands that you provide professional growth opportunities.  Not only does this help female employees become more proficient and productive at their current job, but it can help them successfully move onto the next step in their career map. As a leader, be aware of each of your female employees’ individual personalities while thinking of ways to upskill together. For example, if they’re more extroverted, have them report out on a project to senior leaders as you guide the way and provide feedback following.
  2. Pave the Way. As a leader, it’s important to recognize your direct role and responsibility goes beyond mentoring to get more women in leadership roles. Yes, friendship, support and empathy are needed, but are you a tactical member of their team? Do you consistently look out for them and seek out opportunities? Do you advocate on their behalf at every turn?

Personal Commitment

A second important aspect that was present before the pandemic, but somewhat less obvious, was the large role that women play at home. In addition to childcare, as previously noted, other factors that forced many women to quit or downsize their careers included the need for workplace flexibility and caregiving responsibilities of elder relatives. To retain females at work to address those specific concerns, leaders should:

  1. Offer hybrid work as an option. Rather than requiring in-person or completely remote workdays, provide a hybrid schedule. This way, your female employees can benefit from in-person connection and collaboration, while having the flexibility to stay home occasionally to alleviate some of the pressure and logistics of paying for childcare or planning who can stay home with their aging parent. As a leader, it’s also important to be proactive about avoiding hybrid work burnout before offering this option.
  2. Help teams set boundaries. Teams collaborating in different time zones translates to emails, texts and calls coming in at all hours of the day. Without leaders helping teams create, honor and model set boundaries, individuals feel constant pressure to check in and be “on” long after the workday ends. Setting up asynchronous systems, combined with encouraging structured timeframes for meetings and deep work goes a long way toward feeling supported and productive.

6 Ways Leaders Can Support Their Female Workforce in 2022

Company Commitment

A third trend that’s causing women to leave the workplace is the amount of “invisible work” they’re doing without recognition, especially around diversity, equity and inclusion. While they may feel satisfied to be working on these important topics, female employees and managers themselves doing a majority of this work are being left exhausted. Only about a quarter of employees say that the extra work they’re doing is formally recognized. To help with this:

  1. Make the work your female employees are doing visible. To acknowledge what they do and help them feel appreciated, get the word out in the company. Highlight and showcase their actions yourself. Also, encourage them to self-promote what they’re doing and how that positively impacts the company. For example, maybe your company is going to be awarded an accolade. Dedicate an internal meeting to have female employees at the forefront of these initiatives explain them and answer any clarifying questions.
  2. Show your appreciation in their paychecks.  Yes, consistent, specific and sincere appreciation and recognition increases the likelihood they’ll continue this work, but why not simply pay people for their additional time and efforts? Furthermore, research shows that women are asked to do more non-promotable workplace tasks than men, so be careful to rotate requests fairly amongst your entire team.

As a leader, it’s important to be realistic about how long implementing some of these changes may take and what resources you’ll need to make them. By having frequent communication, being open to feedback and remaining transparent as to what changes you’re making, your employees can feel reassured too.

Contact Us at WeSpeak Global and follow us on Twitter

Author Profile

The articles, video and images embedded on these pages are from various speakers and talent.

These remain the property of its owner and are not affiliated with or endorsed by WeSpeak Global.

Similar to Leaders Can Support Their Female Workforce

An event in Costa Rica is known worldwide for its lush nature that attracts millions of tourists. Still, the country has diversified what it offers to stay current in an increasingly competitive international market, aiming to develop its appeal for corporate event production. This country has great potential due to its favorable geographical location, pleasant […]

  • Author: DMC - Costa Rica
Michelle MACE Curran

Is Complacency Putting You Risk? Lessons From a Fighter Pilot Flying taught me a valuable lesson about life: complacency can cause serious problems for ourselves and those around us. In this newsletter, share a personal story about the dangers of complacency including the following topics: Complacency Consequences What leads to complacency? Signs Complacency is Creeping […]

  • Author: Michelle "Mace" Curran
Rick Lewis

Start Training to Live the Real You and The Ability to Feel Confident in the Midst of Life’s Challenges Takes Practice Why is practicing for life’s challenges so important? We are biologically designed to access great stores of energy when things matter. It’s how we’ve survived as a species. Life and death circumstances require great […]

  • Author: Rick Lewis

Do you have to be a manager or executive to Being A Leader? No! Leading others is a choice. It isn’t about your title. Many people with executive titles are terrible leaders, and many people without a fancy title are outstanding leaders. More than your title, being a leader is about influencing change and inspiring […]

  • Author: Jacob Morgan
WS Logo 512

Toward the end of 2020, I made a resolution to cut down on my intake of fast food. I was almost resolute never to bring another juicy slice of pizza to my lips ever again and Making Organizational Changes Stick I had always known the truth – it was counterproductive to my gym routine and one slice […]

  • Author: Zanele Njapha
Aga Bajer | The Culture Lab

How to Craft Powerful Stories that Can Drive Culture Change There is an old adage that says:   If you want to learn about a culture, listen to the stories. If you want to change a culture, change the stories.    I had a first-hand experience with this very early on in my career. The MD […]

  • Author: Aga Bajer
WS Logo 512

We all end up needing to have an Uncomfortable Conversations. We may have to share with someone our unmet expectations, disappointment, or actual annoyance. This could be with a direct report, our boss, a peer, a spouse, or maybe even a child. No one likes these situations, but we must deal with them appropriately in […]

  • Author: Juli Shulem
Rich Bracken

I am very excited today to talk about one of my favorite topics of all time, HOW TO REMOTIVATE YOURSELF. Based on the fact that I got this question twice yesterday from two separate people from two separate parts of the country means that I’ve got to address this. It’s not just how do you […]

  • Author: Rich Bracken

Our Mission

We are your partner creating memorable and engaging experiences that go beyond the event itself.

© All rights reserved 2025. Created using VOXEL THEME