After twenty years of hectic life in the world of marketing and logisticswith successive promotions and positions of increasing responsibility, but without the satisfaction he was looking for, Gem Martinez took note of a text he found from Confucius: “We have two lives, the second begins when we realize we only have oneIn its simplicity, the sentence revealed to him that at 40, it was time to step out of his comfort zone and fight for what he wanted.

In this chain of professional promotions, Gema he had acceded to the management of a large automobile company. He had broken the glass ceiling, but despite everything, he decided to leave his post and go in search of this second life. “I was tired of fighting, of demonstrating, of untimely schedules, of lacking energy, of not being able to enjoy my son as much as I wanted to, of feeling that what I was doing did not correspond to my values. My recurring question was What do I see myself doing for the rest of my life?“.

“I gained momentum -he explains- and I decided to dedicate myself to what I have always loved, my passion, what makes me happy, personal development”. He trained hard and started his own project, “The woman after 40 years”a platform dedicated to coaching with which helps to reorient professionally towards women who, like her, are over 40 years old.

Her story illustrates the devastating findings of the latest report “Women at work”, made with data from more than 12 million employees of 330 US and Canadian companies. The phenomenon is repeated in the rest of the world. For every woman who reaches a leadership position, two. And they do it as a personal decision. In 2021, 10.5% of women resigned from their positions. Although men are not far behind -9%-, the abandonment of women is greater if we take into account that only one in four relevant positions in the company is held by a woman.

According to Rachel Thomas, co-author of the report, female executives encounter insurmountable difficulties to reconcile personal life and work. “Women are just as ambitious as men, but the dropout from leadership is reaching rates we’ve never seen before,” she says. The pandemic has changed our perception of the world. Women appreciate telework and flexible working hours much more and scrupulously demand equal treatment vis-à-vis their male colleagues. Thomas points out that although the #MeToo movement changed thingsdirectives are always confronted micro-aggressions that challenge their authority.

To get an idea, 37% of those questioned confirmed that on one occasion a colleague has taken credit or paternity for one of your ideas. They also have the twice as likely to be mistaken for a lower-ranking worker. And despite spending a good chunk of their time promoting diversity and workforce wellbeing, 40% consider this effort to go unnoticed in their job performance reviews.

With this scenario, the women are ready to go. And they do it without looking back. Gema observes each of the difficulties set out in the aforementioned report on a daily basis during its coaching sessions. “They want to work on empowering themselves and leveraging their resources to get into personal projects that allow them to benefit from greater flexibility on time and realize their business ideas”.

After the pandemic, only one in ten managers want to return to the office. They prefer to accept a new position that allows them to work remotely. “Women leave companies that don’t offer them a work culture, opportunities and flexibility,” confirms Thomas. “Working from home has made it easier to balance work and personal life, a constant priority in the life of every woman. Now, once face-to-face presence has become a major handicap“, confirms Gema.

It also confirms the extra effort once you reach the top of the companies. “Unfortunately, we continue to fight for equalityD. Women are generally asked twice as much to play the same professional role, in terms of leadership, proposals and not to mention salary issues. They keep giving us our site“.

Gema is thrilled and grateful for this new opportunity that life has given her. “I gained in personal satisfaction, feeling proud of what I accomplished, in motivation, in time management, in self-care, know how to appreciate achievements, big and small”. She understands that this shift would have been difficult without her experience and the path she has traveled, even if she has also discovered skills that she did not know. Her satisfaction is double power to help other women over 40 get out of your blockages.

resignation the same goes for women under 30, according to the document ‘Women at work’. This shows that senior management will struggle to recruit and retain the next generation women leaders, despite the fact that in countries like Spain 58% of university graduates are women and their grades are significantly higher. The good news is that resignation is not such, but rather are willing to move to get what they want. They have the ambition to reach these positions of executives, directors and general managers, but they will seek them in companies committed to values ​​such as fairness and reconciliation. “These women -concludes Gema- they don’t feel like they’ve failed, otherwise the opposite. They are confident women who they seek professional reinvention and purpose. Above all, they want a balance between their personal and professional life.