The universal trend of gender imbalance at the upper levels of organisations raises significant questions about what is holding women back from rising to the top.

It has been found that when given a job description, women tend to underestimate their abilities while men believe they have the ability to perform a role despite not having the necessary skills.

So what makes women consistently rate their own performance lower than men do?

Many women point to the lack of female role models as a roadblock to their success. It’s true that a lack of women in leadership positions can hinder women’s aspirations as they can’t identify with those at the top.

According to a study published by the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology in 2013, female role models can have a positive impact on women’s performance. The study found that looking at images of female role models while giving a speech could improve women’s leadership skills.

Participating in the study were 149 Swiss students (81 of which were women and 68 men) and each was asked to give a speech opposing higher tuition fees.

Some of the students gave their speech with a poster of Hillary Clinton on the back wall, others saw a poster of Angela Merkel, some saw a poster of Bill Clinton, and the rest had no poster in the room at all.

After the speeches, audience members were asked to evaluate the speakers and the participants were also asked to evaluate their own performances.

Interestingly, the speeches with Hillary Clinton or Angela Merkel on the wall were rated more positively by both the audience and the women themselves.

On the other hand, the performance of the male was the same regardless of who was on the poster or whether the posters were in the room or not. This is a great example of how important female role models are to women’s performance.

The problem, however, is that even though looking up to powerful women such as politicians and high flying entrepreneurs can help inspire women, trying to relate to them can sometimes have the opposite effect.

Model behaviour

As women tend to be less confident about their skills and achievements, comparing themselves to the public personas those women put forward can leave them feeling unworthy and less skilled.

What women forget is that those women have an army of people behind them helping them to build their public image which is only a small part of the actual person.

Women should keep in mind is that role models don’t have to be unattainable and they don’t have to be limited to famous figures or an elite group of female business leaders in order to be beneficial.

This is why it’s important to move away from role models and focus on real models. Finding qualities in someone close to home and someone they will have the opportunity to actively engage with can help women more than the role models in unattainable places.

Women can draw inspiration and motivation from those around them whether that’s in their professional or personal life.

For example, despite being a franchisor and being responsible for the training of my franchisees, I always look for things I admire and respect in them and find out how they got a particular skill before learning how I could acquire it and apply it to my day-to-day professional life.

Furthermore, women need to put an emphasis on networking with other women at their level and not just high flying women in senior positions.

Networking with successful women can bring a lot of benefits to you and your career but you also need to network with women on the same level as you as they will be facing – or have faced – similar issues and can provide a useful support network, offering help, advice and support.

Cultivating real models may not solve all the issues surrounding female representation at the top, however it will help women take a major step towards the top and will help them learn more about themselves.

About the author

Claire Robinson is managing director of Extra Help which launched in 2010. Claire realised that there was a gap in the market in providing domestic help specifically to the elderly. Although Extra Help started by working exclusively with elderly and vulnerable clients, it soon expanded and now provides domestic and home-help services to working professionals, new parents and just about anyone who needs a helping hand. The early success of Extra Help proved that the business model worked and Claire realised that the business could work as a franchise. Extra Help now has franchised outlets across the UK.