The topic of advancing women’s leadership is personal to me.  I’ve spent a lot of time studying the topic and created a three part series dedicated to this incredibly important subject.  My first blog post of this series shared statistics and reasons for the disparity in women’s leadership – there are many.  Part two of the series is dedicated to answering why this matters.  The final post in this series provides practical steps to address the disparity; things that can be done immediately to help women advance in leadership. What can women do to address the disparity in women’s leadership:

• Always be the best you can be.  Take advantage of rigorous performance reviews, which is the best time to get coaching and address concerns about bias.
• Take risks by taking on the most challenging assignment you can find, and then take control. Ask for the tough assignments then go to work
• Be willing to change jobs after you have mastered the current one; don’t get complacent because it’s easy.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want.  Be leery of the myth that if I just work hard enough promotion and recognition will come – that’s not entirely true.
• Toot your own horn and take credit for what you are worth.  PR is your friend.
• Take responsibility for the dynamics around you.  If you witness gender bias, address it. To not address it, is making a decision to be a part of the problem.
• Be incredibly comfortable in your own skin; the only way to do that is be confident in who you are
• Rather than resent it, embrace being the woman token.  Get in there, be a trailblazer, show them what you are made of, and then open the door for someone else.
• Marry a supportive spouse
• Don’t see other women as the competition and be willing to advocate for other women.  We are in this together.
• Seek mentors, advocates, sponsors (both men and women)

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