The Barriers to Women’s Progress: And 3 Things Women Can Do About It

I’ve been coaching corporate women for over a decade, to help them proactively manage their careers and successfully move up (or across) the corporate ladder.

The barriers – both external and internal – to women’s advancement are well documented and, to mark #IWD2025 this year, I decided to record a suite of podcast episodes to cover them, on my podcast Her Ambitious Career. You can tune into those episodes here:

3 Major Systemic Barriers to Women’s Progression:

Part 1: The Culture Barrier (9 min audio)
Part 2: The Bias Barrier (11 min audio)
Part 3: The Work-Life Barrier (17 min audio)

And The #1 Internal Barrier to Women’s Success:

The #1 Internal Barrier to Women’s Success: ‘Am I Enough?’ (10 min audio)

However…

As a woman of agency (which I know you are)…

The question is, if you do encounter any (or all) of these barriers, what can you – or will you – do about it?

Obviously…

As a woman of agency, you want to seek how and where you can control a situation.

And you won’t settle for a situation that in any way undermines or belittles you, or your opportunity.

Am I right?

So today I aim to share 3 ways to help you:

Challenge the bias and bat it right back
Regain control and decision-making capability over your own career
Sidestep these barriers by looking at them through an objective lens

Here we go…

Sidestep #1: Not all women encounter these barriers.

Your industry, organisational culture, organisational policies and the leadership around you can have a significant impact on the opportunity, support and sponsorship proactively made available to you.

In many companies, women ARE effectively supported, mentored, given agency, and the opportunity these deserve to thrive.

If you aren’t getting what you need, it might be worth considering what’s missing and where else your talents might be better recognised.

Sidestep #2: You can choose NOT to internalise discrimination.

Biased and discriminatory decisions are made too often that block (or slow down) potentially game-changing career opportunities for women.

When this happens to a woman, it is easy for her to default to an internalised perspective, which might lead her to question her worthiness, competency or ability to do her job.

Don’t believe the hype.

Learning how to step back from biased circumstances like this (and to see them as ‘biased circumstances’ rather than AS a reflection of you) is a skill worth mastering and will help you rise above these challenging circumstances and into a space of agency.

Be objective. Always.

Look at what a situation is for what it is. And bat it back. You don’t want to start believing discriminatory decisions as being ‘true’, or true reflections of your ability, when they are not.

Sidestep #3: Get good at vocalising your value proposition

If you’re running an “Am I enough?” thought…

(Which translates to any, or all, of the following):

“Am I ready enough to go for that promotion?”
“Am I qualified / good enough to be considered?”
“Who am I kidding? I’m a fraud.”

… that tells me that you are unclear of the impact you make to your organisation.

Or more specifically, you are unclear how you make an impact to the business.

By taking steps to breakdown and define the value you are already adding to the business, everything becomes EASIER!

You’ll show up more confidently in every meeting and be more influential.
You’ll back yourself and negotiate for what you want at your performance review(s).
And you’ll start demonstrating readiness for your next leadership role, building visibility with key stakeholders as you do it.

So that’s it… here’s a summary:

Challenge the real, and perceived, barriers around you by:

1. Seek out the mentoring, support, leadership and cultures that support your total success; don’t settle for less.

2. Bat away discriminatory behaviour or circumstances and look at them for what they are: circumstances that you can choose not to define you.

3. Get much better at identifying the value you are already adding and speaking confidently about that impact and about your expertise.

What else would you include in this list?

Rebecca x

How I can help:

Roadmap to Senior Leadership is my signature 1:1 coaching program for women who are ready to take that next step up into leadership. You might not know exactly what you want to do or know how you’re going to get there… and that’s ok. If you’re committed to yourself and your career, let’s speak!

Book a 30-minute no obligation chat with me today about your career