Women in Charge - Building Gender Balanced Business

An Australian study conducted by Dr. Terrance Fitzsimmons included interviews with 30 female CEOs of ASX listed companies. The interviews revealed many interesting similarities between these female CEOs.

BACKGROUND

• Almost all were brought up in small business families (with mothers playing an active role) or had a close female family member who was self-employed

• The majority had experienced significant adversity (e.g. death/illness of parent or sibling, domestic violence) between ages 8-15

HOME LIFE

• Over 2/3 of respondents have children; most had them either very early or much later in their career

• None of them took more than six months away from work after having their children

• All interviewees claimed to hold the primary domestic role

• Most said they did not have to choose between career and family either because they were sharing domestic responsibilities with a husband or relatives or because they had the money to hire help

CAREER

• Not being completely consumed by domestic responsibilities has allowed most respondents time to maintain work connections, serve in industry associations, and present at conferences; most received their CEO appointment opportunities because of these activities

• All respondents mentioned that overcoming lack of confidence was a challenge

• Most of them identified mentors as helping them gain confidence and playing a key role in their promotion

• They rarely applied for seniors positions, instead waiting for them to be offered