Breaking barriers: Women, leadership and the glass ceiling
Women are entering leadership in greater numbers, but the glass ceiling hasn’t disappeared. Yasmine Johnson, co-founder and director at EGM Partners, says businesses must adapt if they want to harness female talent.
When Yasmine Johnson first stepped into leadership, she was barely out of her teens. At just 22, she found herself managing teams of up to 60 people – many of whom were decades older.
“I was leading a team of 60, and the majority of my team had been working for longer than I was alive,” she recalls. “That was challenging and I learned very quickly.”
From the beginning, she was conscious of the way people viewed her. “They would see me as, ‘What do you know?’ or ‘You just got your job because you’re young and pretty’. There was a bit of trying to prove myself – but actually it was more about realising leadership is about building trust and relationships.”
That early experience taught Johnson how deeply ingrained perceptions of authority and gender can be. Today, as co-founder and director at EGM Partners, one of South Australia’s leading executive search and recruitment specialists, she has a front-row seat to hiring practices.
Johnson is frank about the uneven playing field.
“The majority of my peers and who I reported to were male, so there was always feeling like I had to prove myself,” she says. “I feel like women have that a lot. We have to work harder to achieve the same recognition and constantly overachieve to be noticed. It is very exhausting.”
She also highlights the ways bias continues to creep into hiring conversations. “As a recruiter, I’d present a shortlist of candidates, and when you get to the stage of talking through the top four or five people for the role, there’d always be, ‘How old are they? Have they got kids yet?’” she explains.
“That shouldn’t be a question or a decision maker but we still have that as an issue, and unfortunately that can disadvantage women.”
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Breaking the glass ceiling
She’s also adamant about fairness on pay. “In every recruitment process I’ve run, whether it was a male or female candidate, the salary offered has been the same – that’s non-negotiable,” she says. “But, historically, I’ve seen businesses pay men more to step into the same role. That practice is still out there.”
Johnson acknowledges progress has been made, particularly in recent years. “If I could talk about the last five-to-10 years, there is much more openness and a genuine belief that women are excellent on boards and in executive roles,” she says.
But the glass ceiling hasn’t disappeared. “The issue is, boards and executive roles tend to be run by more traditional men who want to recruit like for like,” she says. “My job becomes challenging the status quo and trying to educate.
“In the next 10-20 years, that will change as people retire and the new generation comes in. But there’s still a gap, because there are women who do want to take time off to have children so then are slower to reaching the executive level.
“And some don’t want to reach that level. They want the balance of working and being a mum, so are happy at a certain level.”
Balancing work and parenthood
For Johnson, balancing leadership with motherhood was a steep learning curve. She returned to work just three months after her first child.
“Looking back, I was trying to do be everything and I put myself under immense pressure,” she says. “I had mental health fallouts because it wasn’t sustainable.”
She and her husband Mark eventually found a rhythm – he reduced his hours and became a stay-at-home dad while she pushed forward in her executive role. But the juggle was intense.
“At one point we had a one-year-old, a four-year-old, a business starting to fly and we were renovating a house ourselves. We’d put the kids to bed and go and paint until midnight. It was really hard.”
Now, she encourages other women to avoid the same mistakes. “Boundaries are such a big thing. You can’t do everything – it’s not sustainable.
“I’ve now got very strict boundaries that make me a better person. Unless it’s completely critical, I won’t work past 7.30, 8pm. I have a cup of herbal tea, and I read before bed.
“I have to create calm to rest well and be rejuvenated for the next day. Switching off devices, switching off noise is really important.”
Self-belief the key to climbing the career ladder
Beyond tackling structural barriers, Johnson also sees part of her role as encouraging women to back their own ability.
“Too often, women rule themselves out of senior roles before even applying,” she says.
“Men will see a job and think, ‘I can do 60 per cent-70 per cent of that, I’ll apply,’ whereas women feel they need to do 100 per cent. I try to educate women that they don’t need to know everything. Leadership is about challenging yourself, developing and growing.”
That includes pushing for flexibility. “Roles might be advertised as full-time but, if you’re the right person, businesses will adapt. The key is to speak up and ask.”
Ultimately, Johnson wants her own children to grow up in a workplace where these conversations are no longer necessary. “What I’ve always wanted is that when my children are adults, we’re not really looking at these stats any more,” she says.
Her advice to women is clear: Don’t overthink it. “If you’re considering a new challenge, a board role or a senior position and you’re worried – you can do it. You will develop. Get yourself a strong support network and good mentors. That can make all the difference.”
And to businesses? Adapt or lose talent. “Businesses that don’t adapt will miss out,” she says. “I’ll always fly the flag for women by educating hirers and showing the successes of diverse teams. Change is happening, but we need to keep pushing.”
EGM Partners is a proud partner of the South Australian Business Index lunch and networking event.
