How to Make Ambition Worth It for Women

In her classic hit “9 to 5,” Dolly Parton poured herself a cup of ambition and put voice to the many frustrations of being a working woman striving to get ahead. In the 46 years since the song’s release, many organizations have made real progress towards gender equity—but new evidence suggests there’s still a long way to go.

The most recent version of McKinsey and LeanIn.org’s annual Women in the Workplace study reveals several indicators that hard-fought gains are at risk of being lost, including heighted rates of burnout among women in positions of power, growing penalization of women who work remotely, and waning enthusiasm in corporate circles for gender equity initiatives (amid the so-called DEI backlash).

But perhaps the most striking takeaway from the report is what the researchers call the “ambition gap”. While people of all genders are similarly committed to their careers and eager to do great work, for the first time in the 11-year history of the study, women are notably less inclined than men to pursue promotions.

Why? Because too many organizations aren’t giving them the same sponsorship, manager advocacy and other career-enhancing resources that tend to be readily available to their male colleagues. “Companies can change this,” the report’s authors write. “When women receive the same career support that men do, they are just as interested in advancing.” 

What might that look like, in practical terms? Smith Business Insight contributor Deborah Aarts asked Smith School of Business faculty and alumni to share, in their own words, ideas for how organizations can construct corporate ladders that are more conducive to women’s advancement.

Idea 1: Build manager accountability

Kimberly Hu Amadori, CFA, BCom'08

Vice-President and Investment Counsellor, Guardian Partners; Board Member, Canadian Women's Foundation

In my view, women are just as driven as men. But if we pare it back and look at the issue a bit more deeply, women are finding it more difficult to stay ambitious as their careers and family lives develop. We’re seeing companies pull back on gender and racial diversity efforts, and when companies start investing less in these initiatives it puts real structural pressures on women.

Consider that women do about 12 more hours of unpaid care per week than men, on top of their jobs. Or consider the motherhood penalty, which is well documented and unfortunately still a real burden in 2026—one that compounds over time through a career. Or consider that women earn about 87 cents on the dollar for comparable work done by men; at the executive and board levels, that gap widens. Or consider that there’s a big drop-off for women when it comes to earning that critical promotion into management level—and that drop-off is even more pronounced for women of colour.

When you look at these data points in totality, it presents the challenge that exists for women in work today. The system around them hasn’t been supporting them. So, when women are calculating the rewards and costs of ambitions, they’re seeing the costs are higher and the rewards smaller, and they’re making different choices for their career progressions.

 It’s so hard to change all the systemic and structural issues that make it difficult for women to reach senior roles, but I think a good place to start is for organizations to build real manager accountability for developing talent and measuring. That means more managers tracking who gets promoted, who gets sponsored, and who gets to be on high-profile projects. I don’t think women want special treatment. But we do want fair access to opportunities and fair pay, and that should be something organizations monitor. They can’t just leave it to chance.

Idea 2: Reconsider flex work

Sue Haywood

Assistant Professor of Organizational Behaviour, Smith School of Business

The way our society is structured is not aligned with people having responsibilities outside of the workplaces. Whether or not they choose to have children, women still disproportionately end up as caregivers to their parents, to their extended family members, or to their in-laws, or even their pets.

I’m not trying to glorify the pandemic, but one of the good things that came out of it was the flexibility it created. Many women with small children—myself included—found that remote and flexible work allowed us to continue to work in a way that isn’t as possible in 2026, now that many organizations are back to less flexibility. A lot of women have become so frustrated with the system that they’re forced to make an impossible choice: Do I want to be the person that I want to be, or do I want to have a great career? It shouldn’t be a dichotomy. You should be able to do both. But it’s really hard to do that.

I think employers really need to think about forced inflexibility. There’s a lot of talk right now about return-to-office mandates: Does it have to be across the board? I realize in some roles, remote or flexible work isn’t possible. But if you’re writing a report, or doing research, can there not be some consideration for flexibility? Why can’t it be a privilege to lose, as opposed to an imposed, inflexible rule? Why can’t we build in flexibility, hold people accountable to do the work that they need to do, and—if there’s a problem—then make things more inflexible?

I realize it is much easier, as a manager, to enforce a blanket policy that everybody has to adhere to, than to handle a customized schedule. But we should be thinking more in terms of what we can do to make life more equitable and better for employees, versus taking an equality approach. 

The research shows that the human mind doesn’t naturally work eight hours consistently, particularly those people whose work is more creative or innovative in nature. So why not get them to work at the hours they are at their best, versus the hours that you want to schedule? This would clearly benefit knowledge workers who identify as women, but also all sorts of marginalized groups, including folks who we’re now referring to as neurodivergent. It would actually help everybody.

Idea 3: Make mentorship accessible

Nikita Ghotgalkar, MBA'24

Associate, Leadership Development Program - Enterprise, RBC

So much continues to fall on women outside of work: caregiving responsibilities, emotional labour and invisible expectations that often go unrecognized. For many talented women, the challenge isn’t ambition or capability, it’s bandwidth. When home and work both demand everything, the idea of ‘leaning in’ or taking on more to move up the ladder can feel unrealistic.

Beyond time constraints, there are social dynamics at play. Many women are conditioned to second-guess themselves, to hesitate before asking for opportunities, or to worry about being perceived as too assertive. While women are just as ambitious and capable as men, they often carry additional mental and emotional load that can quietly limit how boldly they pursue advancement. The issue is not potential, it is access, confidence and structural support.

Mentorship can be a powerful equalizer. For women who may not naturally see themselves reflected in leadership, a mentor provides clarity, direction and reassurance in moments of uncertainty. A good mentor helps navigate complex situations, offers perspective from lived experience, and opens doors that may otherwise feel closed. Importantly, mentors do not have to be women: Male allies play a critical role in sponsoring and advocating for women’s growth within organizations.

Organizations have an opportunity to make this support more intentional. Creating a centralized mentorship platform—one that proactively connects women with mentors and sponsors—would reduce barriers to access and make these relationships less dependent on informal networks. By institutionalizing mentorship, companies can help ensure that talent and ambition are not constrained by circumstance.

When mentorship becomes accessible by design, not by chance, more women can fully realize their potential, and organizations benefit as a result.

Idea 4: Make allyship part of the organizational DNA

Christy Zhou Koval

Assistant Professor of Organizational Behaviour, Smith School of Business

One of the reasons you see a lot of burnout, fatigue or lack of enthusiasm in women today is related to the invisible work that they do in the workplace, especially related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts. It’s identity taxation. It’s the idea that women and minorities are disproportionately expected to take on DEI related activities: things like mentoring junior colleagues, speaking on DEI panels and organizing DEI-related activities.

There’s often an expectation that women and minorities are the right spokespeople for these activities, and to a large degree that’s true. But it does create an invisible tax on them. This work is generally not recognised or rewarded. It’s rarely part of a job description. It is often not career-advancing. In this light, a lack of motivation to pursue a promotion track is a really rational calculation: If you’re doing all this extra work and not being compensated for it, it’s all the more difficult to get ahead.

We need more men to participate in DEI activities, especially white men in privileged and powerful positions. We need them to formally take on allyship roles. That means integrating allyship into their evaluations: Organizations should be tracking how many women and visible minorities powerful men are sponsoring every year, and asking ‘What did you do to help redistribute the invisible workload of equity?’ as part of annual reviews. 

Many men don’t feel that they have the psychological standing to be a spokesperson or advocate for allyship issues. They might feel like they don’t know enough, or that it’s not their place. But if one group of people has to take time and effort away from their core job roles to advance DEI, everyone should. You can’t just have women and minorities do all the work.

If you look at the research on advocacy, the most effective initiatives come when both men and women are involved as a team. You don’t want just female or just male advocates. You want people of all genders working together. And I think, too often, that kind of allyship is what organizations are lacking right now.