Recently, I’ve read several articles commenting on Marrisa Mayer’s tenure at Yahoo. Many of the articles break down what seems like every single decision Mayer has made as CEO and how those decisions led to Yahoo’s steady decline.

Mayer has made some miscalculations, but when reading these articles, I can’t help but ask, would Mayer receive the same amount of attention and scrutiny if she were a man?

Mayer has been criticized since she first started as CEO when she announced her pregnancy and, a few years later, an NYU professor stated that the only reason Mayer hadn’t been fired from Yahoo was because she was pregnant a second time.

Mayer isn’t the only woman leader who has faced negative attention.

Former Chairperson of Sony Pictures Entertainment Amy Pascal received a tremendous amount of criticism after Sony Pictures was hacked and contents of her embarrassing e-mail were released to the public. The emails revealed insights into the unequal gender pay gap in Hollywood, and Pascal ultimately ended up stepping down from her role at Sony.

What puzzles me, however, is that Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton remained largely unscathed from the hack. Most journalists did not question him about why women were paid less for films and he still remains CEO today.

Somewhat similarly, in its first quarter, Goldman Sachs profits fell approximately 60%. A majority of the articles commented on the industry and financial trends that led to the decline in profits, and almost none commented on CEO Lloyd Blankfein’s management style or mistakes.

So, why are we harsher on women leaders than men?

While I do think there are ultimately a number of reasons, I believe part of the reason is that we still don’t have many women in leadership positions. Currently, only 4% of CEOs on the Fortune 500 are women. As a result, each decision they make is held to a higher standard and is looked at more closely than their male counterparts. We often take each of their decisions to represent an entire gender, whereas we don’t do the same for men.

Study after study reveals though that more women in the C-suite positively impacts a firm’s bottom line. A research study from Peterson Institute for International Economics, for instance, found that having 30% of women in the c-suite compared to none led to a 15% increase in profitability.

Hence, companies need to do a better job recruiting and supporting women so one day 50% of a company's c-suite positions will be held by women.

Do you think society is harsher on women leaders than men? Why? Let me know in the comments!



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