Earlier this year, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2024 found that the number of women being hired into senior leadership positions is on the decline. In fact, while almost 47% of entry-level positions are filled by women, this drops to a staggering 26% at C-suite level (a trend called the ‘seniority slump’). But why? A lot of it falls down to unconscious bias and downright open gender bias, where studies have shown that stereotypically women are often perceived as less competent and less capable of leadership than men.

However, new research has found that it could be down to self-stereotyping, too. In Sheryl Sandberg’s Ted Talk Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders, Sandberg emphasises that women often undervalue themselves in professional settings, attributing success to external factors rather than their own abilities. And out of the boardroom, this undervaluing has made its way into our CVs and LinkedIn profiles, according to a new study: research from Alan Benson at the University of Minnesota found that women are 16% less likely than men to list leadership skills, even if they are in the exact same role and the exact same company. 

The study found that men on LinkedIn, alongside leadership skills, are more likely to list agentic skills like negotiation, project management and strategic planning, while women are more likely to report support skills like teamwork, time management, event planning and… PowerPoint. Even women in leadership positions are less likely than their male counterparts to emphasise their leadership skills.

There are some positives. The report found that companies with higher Glassdoor work-life balance ratings see smaller gender gaps in leadership reporting, and the gap almost disappears at firms in the top 10% of work-life balance ratings.

And what implications can this have not just on women’s career prospects but on workplaces generally? The study suggested that it could negatively affect recruitment and job matching for women, as leaving leadership off your LinkedIn profile can reduce visibility to recruiters who rely heavily on these profiles for candidate searches, eventually perpetuating a cycle where women may not be considered for leadership roles. Furthermore, the link between work-life balance and the smaller leadership skills gap suggests that encouraging work-life balance and supporting women in leadership could help reduce systemic disparities.

Alongside leadership, what other skills should we be including? According to data insights from LinkedIn, the most in-demand skills for 2024 include:

• Adaptability
• Communication
• Customer service
• Leadership
• Project management
• Management
• Analytics
• Teamwork
• Sales
• Problem-solving
• Research

Did this resonate with you? Perhaps for a new year refresh, it might be time to tidy up your LinkedIn profile.  

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