Do Leadership Development Programs Change Career Outcomes?

Bias is shaped by context. [1] Representation of women in executive leadership positions varies dramatically across scientific fields. [1] Despite decades of progress, research consistently shows that women’s access to leadership remains a persistent global challenge, both for higher education institutions and organizations. [2] [3]

Across all U.S. colleges and universities, women make up roughly one-third of college presidents. [5] At the nation’s major research universities (R1 institutions), women held approximately 30% of presidencies in 2023, up from about 22% just a few years earlier — yet these figures remain far from gender parity. [6] Nearly 40% of U.S. institutions have never had a woman president, highlighting how many campuses still lack any historical female leadership at the very top. [6] Moreover, women’s representation remains concentrated in less secure academic roles. [7] While women held 36% of dean, department head, and chair positions in 2019, they accounted for higher shares of adjunct faculty (42.7%) and postdoctoral researchers (42.6%). [7] 

Together, these statistics reveal a clear gap between participation and power — women are present across academic pathways, but remain systematically excluded from the senior leadership positions where authority, resources, and decision-making power are concentrated. 

Research makes clear that an “add women and stir” approach is insufficient for overcoming gender inequality. [8] A delivery model that relies on the foundational belief — delivered by women but led by men — often reproduces the very hierarchies it is meant to disrupt. [9]

Leadership development programs (LDPs) have emerged as a strategic tool to strengthen women’s leadership in higher education, aiming to build confidence, increase self-efficacy, and support career advancement into senior roles. [10] It is within this context that the Society of Women Engineers developed the Academic Leadership for Women in Engineering (ALWE) program, a leadership development program designed to support women faculty’s professional growth and leadership readiness within engineering academia. [11] 

While LDPs have been shown to meaningfully support women’s leadership attainment [10], far less is known about how LDPs shape women’s career trajectories over time and why some participants advance into leadership roles while broader inequities persist. To gain a deeper understanding of these mechanisms, SWE’s ALWE study examines the long-term career outcomes of ALWE participants, assessing whether and how structured leadership development translates into sustained academic retention, leadership advancement, professional recognition, and mentoring engagement. 

Using a retrospective, longitudinal design spanning 2015–2023, the analysis moves beyond short-term program outcomes to provide evidence on how leadership development operates across time and institutional contexts. Findings show that participation in ALWE is associated with sustained academic engagement and measurable career advancement over time. 

Taken together, these patterns suggest that purposeful LDPs may play a role in supporting women’s persistence and upward mobility within engineering academia, even within systems where leadership inequities remain unequal. Importantly, SWE’s ALWE report finds that participants’ leadership advancement was not limited to formal administrative appointments; many participants progressed through senior faculty roles, hybrid academic-leadership positions, and increased professional visibility, indicating multiple pathways through which leadership development can translate into influence and institutional impact.

For more information on how ALWE’s leadership development program is making waves, read the full report here.

References

[1] Ceci, S. J., & Williams, W. M. (2011). Understanding current causes of women’s underrepresentation in science. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(8), 3157-3162.

[2] Catalyst. (2023). Women in leadership: Quick take.

[3] English, V., & Braybrook, K. (2025). Women’s leadership development through higher education. International Journal of Educational Studies, 8(6), 82-92.

[4] LinkedIn Economic Graph Research Institute. (2025). The state of women in leadership (aggregated and anonymized data from LinkedIn). LinkedIn.

[5] Bauer-Wolf, J. (2023). College presidents are still overwhelmingly White men. Higher Ed Dive.

[6] Gasman, M. (2023). Women are on the rise as leaders of top research universities. Forbes.

[7] Society of Women Engineers. (2024). Tenure/Tenure-Track Faculty. SWE.

[8] Moreno, C. (2025). Barriers to Female Advancement in Health Sciences Education: A Qualitative Study Examining the Effect of Culture and Values on Leader Selection.

[9] Haines, A. C., & McKeown, E. (2023). Exploring perceived barriers for advancement to leadership positions in healthcare: a thematic synthesis of women’s experiences. Journal of health organization and management, 37(3), 360-378.

[10] Ford, A. Y., Dannels, S., Morahan, P., & Magrane, D. (2021). Leadership programs for academic women: building self-efficacy and organizational leadership capacity. Journal of Women’s Health, 30(5), 672-680.

[11] Society of Women Engineers. Academic Leadership for Women in Engineering (ALWE). SWE.