Promoting Women’s Leadership in the Workplace

What picture comes to mind when you think of the word “leadership”? 

If we do a quick search on the internet, we still see images of men leading teams or work groups, or masculine or corporate-style illustrations leading others toward the achievement of goals. Try it—do your own search and you’ll see what we mean. 

The results change if we add the word “female” to the search. They also change if we use other terms like “manager” in different languages like English. 

Does this difference matter? 

Yes. It’s a clear sign of the existence of bias and stereotypes in how we think—bias that continues to be reproduced in all types of settings, from media and social networks to emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. 

A seemingly neutral word like “leadership” is full of expectations, shaped by gender norms, and conveys messages about what is supposedly acceptable or possible in a given context. 

But this does not reflect reality, and it certainly does not mean that women are not or cannot be leaders. It means there is still work to do to make women’s leadership visible, effective, and recognized—and to disconnect the word “leadership” from the collective image of a man in a suit and tie.

What Does Leadership Mean in Practice? 

Leadership in the workplace does not necessarily mean holding a position of power or authority. Managing resources to support community development, actively engaging in environmental protection, or participating in spaces that promote equality are all forms of leadership—even if they are not always labeled as such. 

Women’s leadership in Latin America and the Caribbean is not potential—it is happening every day. Let’s recognize it. 

Let’s look at the stories of Margarita and Ana; two Central American women involved in community organizing activities, job training and promoting women’s entrepreneurship in their countries.   

Margarita and the many unnamed women she works with—members of agricultural or fishing cooperative boards in Central America— are examples of less visible but powerful forms of leadership. Margarita doesn’t have a team under her supervision, but she fosters the growth of the people around her. Ana, on the other hand, previously held various corporate managerial positions, but her leadership did not end when she stepped down from her high-level post at a financial institution dedicated to supporting rural development. Her mission is also to contribute to social and economic development in her country, and today she devotes part of her time to empowering women economically. 

Both agree on the importance of developing socioemotional skills to strengthen women’s leadership. “We still see different types of aggression in cooperatives, which are highly male-dominated spaces. To promote women’s leadership, we need to work on two fronts: strengthening women’s self-esteem and conflict-resolution skills, while also addressing discriminatory practices that lead some men to still see women as decorative figures,” says Margarita. 

“Women find their voice and grow exponentially; they go from being timid to speaking up, feeling confident, and managing better.” Still, she also sees room for improvement. “Leadership training does not always reach scale. Sometimes, opportunities are individualized, or leadership gets concentrated in a few… the challenge is to diversify and democratize…” 

It is impossible to think about sustainable and equitable development in Latin America and the Caribbean without the recognition of the contributions of women and without empowering their leadership skills. 

The presence of women in leadership positions makes visible experiences previously considered invisible”.  ––The IDB publication, Women Leaders in the Public Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2022 

If Women Lose, Regions Lose, and the World Loses 

While leadership is not only exercised from managerial or positions of authority, the business and economic sphere has much to gain from greater equality and representation of women in these positions. 

Gender equality brings economic benefits for society as a whole. Estimates from the McKinsey Global Institute suggest that closing gender gaps could boost global GDP by 26% by 2025. 

Women’s leadership is seen in different ways in everyday life and there is much work to be done to make it visible, effective and recognized. 

IDB data confirms that the presence of women in leadership positions “makes previously invisible experiences visible and brings in different interests, priorities, and perspectives compared to male counterparts.” There is also evidence that more diverse leadership results in more evidence-based decisions—leading to better outcomes and gains. 

But the reality in the region and the world reflects a missed opportunity when it comes to women’s leadership in the economic sphere. In Latin America and the Caribbean, studies in companies in the region show that there is an “uneven playing field” in corporate leadership. As of 2021, only 25% of the highest decision-making positions were held by women, and just 11% of companies had a woman serving as their top executive. 

Similar numbers are seen in the region’s public sector, where only 23.6% of the most senior roles—equivalent to minister-level positions—are held by women, according to a recent IDB study. 

Women also remain underrepresented in industrial and technological sectors—areas where quality job creation has increased in the region, meaning well-paid, formal employment. By contrast, women’s employment remains concentrated in lower-quality sectors like services, domestic care, or retail. 

We cannot afford to wait over a century—the time it would take to close gender gaps in the economic sphere, according to the World Economic Forum—to unlock this potential. We know that skills development is key to promoting women’s leadership. But which skills should we cultivate—and how can we scale them? 

Key Skills for Women’s Leadership in the Workplace 

While there is no consensus on what or how many skills are needed to build effective leadership, it is known that they are a subset of socio-emotional skills that are learned and can be developed and cultivated. 

Some skills that can help us equip women for leadership include: 

• Self-confidence, which involves developing a positive view of one’s own value and personal abilities to handle everyday challenges. Ana sees this skill emerge in the women participating in entrepreneurship programs she supports in Central America. 

• Strategic thinking, or the ability to assess the environment and chart a realistic action plan to meet objectives. Many women in our region apply this skill daily—often without realizing it—when managing their households or stretching a grocery budget. 

• Adaptability, which is the ability to respond to internal and external changes without compromising goals. 

• Negotiation, meaning the ability to engage in discussions that help opposing parties reach mutually beneficial agreements. 

• Conflict management, which entails anticipating, handling, and mitigating problems that could negatively affect an organization or community. 

• Teamwork, the ability to build collaborative relationships with others to achieve shared goals. 

Multiple evaluations confirm the positive effects on employment, job growth opportunities, income and quality of work of training programmes that combine technical skills training with socio-emotional skills; Effects that are most noticeable among women.   

To accelerate the path to equality, we need to amplify and multiply the spaces in which women’s skills, including leadership, are developed and strengthened. These spaces can take different formats:  individual mentoring or collective, face-to-face or virtual training, such as the MOOC course Female leadership: empowering your skills and driving change, offered by the IDB for free. 

The IDB is committed to continuing to identify, recognize and make visible the leadership of women. We will continue to tell their stories and offer them opportunities to develop their skills, because their transformative potential is too valuable to waste.