International Women’s Day presents an opportunity to celebrate all the progress we have made and to reflect on what continues to hold us back. While women are just as capable and competent as men, there remains vast inequalities in female representation in executive positions across sectors. According to the McKinsey & Company 2020 report, Norway has an average female representation of 29% on executive teams, followed by Australia (27%), Sweden (24%), and the United States (21%). Norway has the highest representation of women in executive positions. This is the case for a myriad of reasons, one of them being the confidence gap. 

As detailed in the research conducted by Claire Shipman and Katty Kay in their book, The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance—What Women Should Know, there is a significant confidence gap between men and women. According to an article in The Atlantic, The Confidence Gap, women tend to ruminate over their past mistakes, to suffer from debilitating self-doubt, and to strive for the impossible ideals of perfectionism at much greater rates than men on average. All of these tendencies hinder women’s progression up the corporate ladder. 

One way to close this confidence gap is for women to become aware of how our learned behaviors inhibit us, to unlearn those tendencies, and to replace them with productive habits: practicing confident nonverbal poses (standing up straight with our chins up), contributing in the meeting despite self-doubt, and asking for that raise. 

It has been proven that executive teams that have a higher percentage of women perform better than one’s that don’t (Mckinsey & Company, 2020). Companies benefit from having confident women lead teams.

Aula Magna Business School can help its participants in this vital process by providing them with the skills required to access and perform in executive level positions. Our programming teaches women how to adopt skills that may be more inherently masculine in nature, such as negotiating, gaining the respect of your team, and commanding a board room, to not only improve their professional prospects but also their ability to contribute to and lead their team.  Additionally, participants will be in a female centric space with fellow female participants, female professors, and female focused material being studied and discussed. 

Do not let self-doubt or fear of failure hold you back from taking advantage of this opportunity with Aula Magna Business School. Participate in the next cohort of the Executive Development Program (EDP) this March 25th, so you can unlearn habits that are holding you back and access your full potential. 

By Alexandra Gonzalez