Long story short: Clear the way for women in the workplace

July 15, 2022 11:07 AM

Women have been disproportionately saddled with the impact COVID has had on their families and careers.

Nearly 5.4 million women have lost or left their jobs since February 2020, according to data from the National Women’s Law Center. Creating more inclusive work cultures, offering family-friendly benefits, and providing support in the form of mentorship and sponsorship can help women stay on track and make up for pandemic-era losses.

In this week’s top stories, workplace insights platform Comparably recently released its list of top-ranked CEOs, chosen by their female employees. Leaders from Hubspot, IBM, Adobe and others all made the list. For women, it’s not just who they work for, but where: lending firm Clarify Capital ranked the best and worst states for women-owned businesses, based on factors like the percentage of women-owned businesses, the gender pay gap and female unemployment rate in those states.

Expecting women to make it on their own won’t help close the wage gap or get women back to work. Three leadership experts share why sponsorship is a key component to getting more women into leadership roles. While a mentor helps women with their personal and professional goals, a sponsor takes responsibility for promoting an employee to a higher level position.

“Coaching is about development. Mentoring is about guidance. Sponsorship is about pulling someone up and advocating for them,” says Rubina F. Malik, a learning and development adviser at Malik Global Solutions. “More CEOs and higher-ups need to be allies for women. Put them in the spotlight and get them opportunities to be seen.”

The top 10 CEOs, as rated by women employees

Women are searching for workplaces they feel comfortable in, and for bosses that will prioritize creating an inclusive culture. Much of it comes down to leadership, and how serious they are about creating diverse and inclusive workspaces. Workplace insights platform Comparably recently released its list of top-ranked CEOs based on female employees’ company ratings, submitted to their site from June 2021 through June 2022.

"The consensus is that these top-rated CEOs lead with empathy and emotional intelligence,” Comparably CEO Jason Nazar tells associate editor Paola Peralta. See who made the list.

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The top 10 CEOs, as rated by women employees

Why sponsorship — not mentorship — may be the key to helping women advance their careers

Less than 11% of senior executives are women among the world’s largest Fortune 500 companies, according to data from marketing communications firm Weber Shandwick — and that trend isn’t likely to change anytime soon. IBM found that only 30% of junior women managers reported having sponsors or mentors, which can prove essential to career advancement.

Yet mentorship alone won’t make a big enough difference. Instead, women need to seek out sponsorship, where the sponsor takes responsibility for helping their sponsee get promoted to higher-level positions. Associate editor Deanna Cuadra spoke with three leadership experts on why sponsorship can make a difference and how they’ve dealt with challenges in their careers.

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Why sponsorship — not mentorship — may be the key to helping women advance their careers

The 10 best jobs of 2022

There are approximately 10.7 million people in the U.S. actively searching for jobs, according to job insights platform Zety. And with 93% of employers doing some form of hiring in 2022, according to job search platform Monster, the recruiting landscape is set to be especially active throughout the rest of the year. According to Indeed’s new Top Jobs of 2022 report, tech and healthcare are in the lead when it comes to industries that are hiring fast and offering the most appealing career opportunities to job seekers.

Indeed ranked its top jobs based on employer demand, salary and consistent growth in the number of job postings from 2019 to 2022. Associate editor Paola Peralta rounds up the jobs with the most potential.

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The 10 best jobs of 2022

10 best and worst states for women-owned businesses

The number of women-owned businesses in the U.S. grows each year, with over 11 million more women-led businesses today than there were 50 years ago. But location matters when it comes to making sure those businesses succeed. Lending firm Clarify Capital scored each state out of 100 points based on factors like the percentage of women-owned businesses, gender pay gap, female unemployment rate and the number of women-owned businesses with a revenue of over $1 million.

Associate editor Deanna Cuadra shares the best and worst states for women entrepreneurs: rural states with less diversified economies found themselves at the bottom of the ranking, namely West Virginia, Mississippi and Alabama. However, Texas ranked in the top 10, reflecting the state’s recent tech boom in Austin.

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10 best and worst states for women-owned businesses