Though leadership as a discipline has its origins from the beginning of civilization, the academic research has overlooked the subject of gender intersecting with leadership. Therefore, this area of discipline is an emergent research where the attention to the field has been most recent, since the 2010s. We conduct in-depth research in this discipline known as Leadership and Gender to stay on top of the latest research theories and findings to ensure that learnings are applied in practice that enables more females to emerge as leaders.

There is ample empirical research showing barriers and challenges women face in the workplace, at different strata of organizations, such as the ‘motherhood penalty’, the ‘glass ceiling’ and the ‘glass cliff’. In our research project, we are mindful of all the barriers and challenges, but take a different route by enquiring about success stories to understand how female leaders overcame these barriers and what the enabling factors/elements are for career success that led to the C-suite position.

The pursuit of our research project is to join Study Up research methodology to accelerate gender equality and equity in organizations, which arguably hold significant power in society. Only through in-depth research with solid scientific method can we gain new knowledge and apply that in the real world.