Leen Kawas on Practical Steps for Women in Biotech to Break the Leadership Glass Ceiling
The glass ceiling has gained notoriety as a metaphor in the media in recent years for how women and other minorities’ professional progress has been constrained. And the data is accurate. Only 8.2 per cent of Fortune 500 businesses’ chief executives are women, compared to 29.1 per cent overall.
To this aim, there have been a lot of talks recently about what might be done to get through the management glass ceiling. Leen Kawas commented on the subject and stated that the biotech industry and the powerful women who work there must start the change. Leen Kawas offered four critical tactics that can aid in overcoming the barriers that women face in the field to achieve this.
Kawas first supports increased funding for businesses with a female lead. Female business owners have been discouraged by the recent decline in this sector. About 2.0% of startup funding, down from a peak of 2.8% in 2009, was allocated to these startups in 2021. The fact that there needs to be more women in leadership positions in investment firms may also be a factor in why women-led enterprises get fewer resources than those owned by men.
Female entrepreneurs require help in many areas than just funding. Kawas also pointed out that unspoken bias prevents women from advancing up the corporate ranks. Leen Kawas also emphasizes the critical need for high-calibre mentorship resources, emphasizing equity in the biotech sector. People who collaborate with a mentor have retention rates of 50% higher, which can help women do better at work and get avenues to promotion. Furthermore, 61% of women say they have never had a proper mentor, and 67% think mentoring can help them develop in their careers.
Kawas emphasized the importance of mentorship as a crucial element of female success and advancement in the workforce. The fourth key point to assisting women in shattering the glass ceiling in the workplace, she also distinguishes mentorship from sponsorship.