Accelerate Action: 10 Ways Women Can Advance Their Careers
07 Feb, 20251-2 minutes
In this blog, you will learn:
- 10 ways women can advance their careers.
- How men and organisations can improve women's chances of advancement and accelerate action for gender equality.
- Where the latest jobs are and how to apply for them.
In the UK, women occupy leadership positions across various sectors, and businesses and organisations are required to assess and promote gender diversity through structured monitoring and reporting.
Despite these efforts, progress remains slow, with systemic barriers and workplace challenges often hindering women's career advancement. Many women continue to face difficulties in accelerating change, securing senior roles, and breaking through persistent gender biases in professional environments.
According to the 2024 Women in the Workplace survey, more than a third of women thought their gender played a role in missing out on a promotion, pay rise or a chance to get ahead, compared to 15% of men.
Throughout this blog, we’ll delve into the bad habits women need to avoid, and how they can progress and upskill their career. With first hand insights and tips from a female Chief Executive Officer whose career has gone from strength to strength, this blog will help guide you to success and lead to career advancements.
10 ways women can advance their careers
10 ways women can advance their careers:
- Believe in yourself.
- Have a hard working mindset.
- Claim achievements.
- Don’t judge yourself or others.
- Enlist help.
- Demonstrate your skills and potential.
- Don’t strive for perfection.
- Know your worth.
- Ask for what you want.
- Challenge and be innovative.
Believe in yourself
In order to be a great leader, it’s important that women have belief in themselves and the work that they put in. Confidence is considered a crucial skill for effective leaders in any industry as it allows them to make decisions and navigate challenges.
According to software company Textio, while women were 7 times more likely to internalise negative stereotypes about themselves, men were 2-4% more likely to internalise positive stereotypes.
As a leader, having confidence in yourself and others can give your employees confidence in themselves. This quality is essential for successful leadership to motivate and inspire your team, as well as increase productivity and workplace satisfaction.
Chief Executive Officer Kelly Autey said, “When I’m in a meeting I like to encourage the quietest person to contribute. Some people aren’t comfortable in meetings but have stacks of good ideas. We just have to build their confidence and help them progress.”
Have a hard working mindset
It might seem obvious, but working hard and adopting a growth mindset is crucial for career advancement. According to the ‘Potential and the Gender Promotion Gap’, women are 33% more likely than their male colleagues to simultaneously have the highest performance and lowest potential ratings.
Women often feel the need to work harder to prove themselves in professional environments and achieve the same recognition as men. However, it’s important that women feel encouraged and inspired, so their hard work and dedication can provide them with opportunities in the workplace, without jeopardising work life balance.
Kelly Autey said that for women to succeed in any career they need to have, ‘Self belief, a hard-working mindset and courage.’
Having a strong work ethic allows women to view obstacles and challenges as an opportunity to learn and grow to become leaders and reach their full potential.
Claim achievements
Women are more reluctant to claim achievements and less likely to self promote than men. However, women that claim credit for their achievements and speak about their contributions send a signal that they are ready to advance.
Kelly Autey said, “I was told in my twenties that self-promotion will be key, along with pushing myself out of my comfort zone for career progression. I half took the advice at the time, then as I entered my thirties I saw that’s what all the seniors were doing.”
Increasing your visibility and detailing why you’re qualified and ready to move to the next level is vital for women to demonstrate that they can rise to the challenge.
Autley added, “Nobody is going to vouch for all the hard work you’re doing, so don’t stay quiet. Make clear what you’ve contributed and therefore want and deserve.”
If women minimise their worth and don’t self promote, it can limit their ability to be recognised or considered for promotions, projects or responsibilities that can advance their careers. Let your values be known and how much effort it took you to bring about a certain outcome.
Don't judge yourself or others
Women often face judgement and criticism in their careers from gender bias to stereotypes. It’s important that women don’t judge themselves or others, as this behavioural habit can affect women’s ability to make allies in the workplace and ultimately advance their career.
Celebrating diversity, achievements and progress allows women to feel empowered and motivated in the workplace, especially when women support each other.
It’s important to let go of judgement and feedforward rather than hold a grudge or let your judgements get the better of you. Women shouldn’t be afraid to be themselves and let others express themselves too.
Enlist help
Having help and support from others in the workplace is a sign of strength and can ultimately help women to advance in their careers. However, women can find it difficult to build relationships and create a network for allies to advocate for them.
In especially male dominated industries, it’s important that women feel included, collaborative and satisfied in their roles and work relationships. Women can benefit from having allies and creating bonds with their colleagues, as it can help them build their skills and overcome barriers.
Not everyone is going to agree with your work ethic, and failing to enlist allies from day one can potentially hinder career progression for women or put them behind the curve. Network, practice active listening and collaborate with others to build relationships and create bonds with coworkers. Champion other people's success and seek out mentors to guide career development and create allies.
Demonstrate your skills and potential
Let your work speak for itself and show that you have the skills and potential to manage or lead. It’s crucial that women demonstrate their skills and potential at all times to back them up when they ask for or discuss a promotion or career advancement opportunities.
Kelly Autey supported this stressing the importance of ‘women proving their suitability to take on more responsibilities in a senior position.’
Autley said, “I’d turn up at Senior Management Team meetings each week and action points that were left unactioned for weeks on end by other Senior Managers.”
By demonstrating your skills and potential, women prove that they are suitable for a more senior role.
Don’t strive for perfection
From a young age, girls and women feel the need to be perfect and intentionally avoid tasks and responsibilities out of fear they won’t do them perfectly. According to LEGO Group, two-thirds of all girls often feel worried about sharing their ideas and are anxious about making mistakes or not being perfect.
Advancing your career and being successful doesn't mean striving for perfection or impossible dreams, but valuing progress over perfection. Perfectionism is counter-productive and can result in both stress and a lack of success.
Setting both long-term and short-term goals can help women plan their career aspirations and drive their role development. Understanding what actions and steps need to be taken to stay motivated and achieve your goals is the key to advance your career.
Know your worth
Knowing yourself and the value you bring is a vital skill for women and if you want to progress or advance in your career, then you have to convince yourself before you can convince others. Under or even over-estimating your values, strengths and ambitions can have a negative affect on your ability to make informed career decisions.
Kelly Autey said, “Trust your gut – you know YOU have what it takes.”
Don’t let stereotypes, other people's estimations or assumptions dictate your attitude, goals or self worth. It’s important that women embrace their authenticity and understand their limits to ensure that they can be confident and have a positive self-image and self-insight.
Ask for what you want
While women's participation in the workforce is increasing, women’s voices are still not always fully listened to in the workplace. Particularly in leadership roles, women face persistent challenges when it comes to expressing their opinions and reinforcing their power.
When a woman is assertive she can garner a reputation for being bossy or demanding, whereas men are praised for their confidence and for demonstrating leadership material.
Kelly Autey added, “I got to where I am by working hard and asking lots of questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want. If you don't, the answer will always be no.”
Don’t let stereotypes, pressures or negativity dictate your actions as a woman. Speaking up and asking for what you want is the only way others can help you on your career journey.
Challenge and be innovative
As a woman, demonstrating your leadership skills and your ability to take on more responsibilities means challenging the norm. Women offer unique perspectives and can significantly contribute to richer ideas and solutions.
Kelly Autey said, “I believe that someone with forward thinking vision who challenges the way it's always been, is key to being a great leader.” By challenging the workplace and confronting issues, women can advocate for equal opportunities and promote a more inclusive and supportive environment.
Kelly continued, “Innovation is what keeps businesses in the game.” Women can drive innovation within a business or company by challenging assumptions about who should hold leadership positions and actively seeking opportunities for career advancement.
What can men and organisations do to improve women’s chances of advancement?
It’s not just women’s own attitudes and beliefs that can increase their likelihood of career development or a promotion. It’s important for other individuals to enhance women’s chances of career advancement. Organisations and businesses can address language bias, attitudes and other significant barriers to give women more opportunities to thrive.
Kelly Autey said, “Talk about women in rooms of opportunity.” By promoting workplace equality and combating language bias, organisations can ensure women have equal opportunities to discuss their career paths and advance.
Kelly Autey said, “As for organisations, we need to encourage women to use their voices more.”
Giving women a voice and promoting their ideas, can help break down gender bias and lead to more women in leadership roles and a more successful organisation.
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