As a women-owned company, we at ProEthics have found that female leaders bring valuable qualities and new, diverse perspectives to the workplace.

Jacinda Ardern was the youngest female prime minister ever and led New Zeeland during the Covid pandemic and the Christchurch terrorist attacks. Furthermore, she became a mother while in office. Her leadership style was described as “politics of kindness”. When announcing her resignation in January 2023 she said: “I hope I leave New Zealand with a belief that you can be kind but strong, empathetic but decisive, optimistic but focused, and that you can be your own kind of leader, one who knows when it’s time to go.” (https://theconversation.com/jacinda-ardern-the-politics-of-kindness-is-a-lasting-legacy-198186)  She showed the world that there is a place for women and mothers as leaders and that there is no shame in stepping down as a leader.

 Patty McCord was the chief talent officer of Netflix and wrote in her book, Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility, that “a business leader’s job is to create great teams that do amazing work on time”.

(https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/58113992-powerful-building-a-culture-of-freedom-and-responsibility)  She understood the importance of company culture and how to improve it for the benefit of all team members. Patty inspired leaders to be collaborative and to foster an environment that is both supportive and inclusive to all employees.

In a May 2023 article published in the ProofHub, an Australian economist, Conrad Liveris, conducted a study that showed that there are more CEOs named Andrew in Australia than the total number of women CEOs in the country. Another survey by aauw.org showed that among the Fortune 500 CEOs,  only 7.2 per cent are women, and only 25 per cent have C-suite jobs in the top 1000 companies. (https://www.proofhub.com/articles/women-in-leadership-roles#:~:text=Women%20have%20the%20qualities%20of,decision%2Dmaking%20are%20all%20examples.) One wonders how this is still possible in a modern world when real-life experience has proven that women can not only lead but do it extremely effectively.

When allowed to lead, the value of a female leader will lie in her ability to listen, inspire, empower and guide. We hope that more women will be given the opportunity to showcase their talents and build successful teams.