Unveiling the Challenges

Abstract

Women across the world face numerous challenges in obtaining leadership opportunities and economic empowerment. This chapter will focus on a number of these barriers, including gender biases and stereotypes imposed on individuals who identify as women, the impact of microaggressions on individuals in a larger system, economic impediments, and self-imposed biases from internalized identities. Biases and stereotypes are embedded and reinforced in society as early as the developmental years; they are maintained through differing institutions and practices such as the media and microaggressive language. Not only does this impact the expectations placed on women by others, but it also ensures that women may unknowingly minimize their own goals and experiences by internalizing these assumptions. Furthermore, the legal, cultural, and educational hurdles within economic barriers are collectively entwined. Women's empowerment and impediments are complex and salient topics consisting of many related factors, which will be further explored in this chapter.