By Jill Vanak PhD, MBA, MSN, BSN

Women account for 61.7% of all accountants and auditors in the United States. Women are 50% of all full-time staff at CPA firms, but make up just 23% of partners. (This number hasn’t increased significantly since 1993 – nearly 30 years! – when only 19% of partners were women.) And as firms consolidate and increase in size, women are less likely to hold leadership roles.  

Why is there such lack of female representation in leadership in an industry where women outnumber men? Say hello to the “broken rung.”

The “broken rung” is a gap in the advancement cycle that stifles the promotion of women to senior leadership. For every 100 men promoted to a first-time manager position, only 72 women are. Coined following a five-year study by McKinsey & Company and Sheryl Sandberg (yup, the one who just stepped down as COO of Meta and founded LeanIn.Org), the term “broken rung” refers to the fact that women in entry-level jobs are less likely than men to be promoted to the first level of the managerial ladder.

This should be getting much more press than the well-known and often used phrase “shatter the glass ceiling.” The “broken rung” is a bigger deal: it sets women further back at the managerial starting ling and ultimately limits the number of women available for promotion to higher levels of management. The less full the talent pool, the fewer women who can be chosen/promoted/selected to positions within senior leadership. Because of the “broken rung,” women tend to be more heavily represented in entry-level jobs, and for women of color, the stats are strikingly worse. Members of this group hold only 4% of C-suite (CEO, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, etc.) positions.  

Research tends to focus on what companies can do about this systemic issue (increased diversity efforts, establishing gender diversity as a critical agenda item, addressing unconscious bias, analyzing hiring pipelines, etc.) but many “big C” corporations and companies tend to have red-tape, policies, and standard operating procedures that slow any solutions and the implementation of processes that can effect systemic change.  

We know the “big C” companies need to be a part of the solution, but what can women do on their own so they can avoid the career splinters and twisted ankles that come with the “broken rung”?

Network

A network gap exists: women in the United States are 28% less likely than men to have a strong professional network (LinkedIn, 2019). A weaker network means less access to job opportunities and fewer seats at the not-just-proverbial but very real conference room table.

Mentorship

The latest numbers show that a person is five-times more likely to be promoted if that person has a mentor.

Brand Identity and Promotion

Yup, you are a brand. It’s your responsibility to make yourself visible, whether it’s meeting with your boss every month to review accomplishments and milestones or writing your own submission into the company newsletter, you need to be your biggest hype-woman.

Stretch

No, I don’t mean stand up from wherever you’re reading this to shake it out. I’m talking about stretch projects. Start to build your arsenal of skills, demonstrate your commitment to expansion and growth, and work to make yourself invaluable.

Ask and Know

Do your research. What’s your company’s track record in terms of promotion of women? Are women represented in the C-suite? What types of diversity, equity, and inclusion commitment is being actively made? Know your environment before stepping into it.

The focus on women in the workplace has been on “shattering the glass ceiling,” but it should centered be centered on the “broken rung.” We can’t climb to the top until that rung is in place and hammered in tight.  

Jill Vanak PhD, MBA, MSN, BSN, is the founder of Jill Vanak Consulting LLC, where she is a career coach and strategist. Vanak has years of experience and training in how to climb the corporate ladder and is on a mission to share her expertise to empower women. She can be reached at hello@jillvanak.com.

If you would like to hear more from Jill Vanak, please join us for PICPA’s Women’s Leadership Conference on June 23 in King of Prussia, Pa., or via webcast. Vanak will be the presenter of Tactics for Every Stage in Your Career.  

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