One More Qualification Won't Fix a Broken System
As a woman, if you just get one more qualification, do one more course, prove yourself one more time — you’ll progress in your career right?
❌ Wrong.
LinkedIn’s 2026 State of Women in Leadership report landed recently, and one number stopped me cold: in tech, the VP-to-C-Suite cliff sits at 39%.
Nearly 4 in 10 women who fought their way to VP don’t make it through that final door. And that’s the average. For some functions it’s considerably worse.
Worse still, women with doctorates face a 33% drop from workforce to leadership. The biggest gap of any education group.
I believed the answer was to prove myself harder. Some days I still do it.
It’s not you. It was never you.
If you’re wondering why you’re not progressing despite doing everything right, it’s time to stop auditing yourself and start auditing the system holding you back.
And if you can — a kind word, a recommendation, a hand up to another woman at that cliff — do something with it.
Come talk to me about it on LinkedIn
