Greedy leadership roles: why modern organizations struggle to retain women leaders

Despite efforts to increase gender diversity, women remain underrepresented in STEM leadership. While work–life policies and gender attitudes are evolving, traditional explanations such as the glass ceiling and stereotype mismatch remain influential in explaining this persistence. To investigate, we conducted focus group interviews with fifteen women leaders at an engineering firm in South Korea, a country where growing expectations for women’s economic participation coexist with enduring Confucian norms. The leaders acknowledge organizational efforts to reduce discrimination and support careers alongside family, yet such efforts rarely extend to leaders, whose roles inherently require near-continuous availability, accountability for team outcomes, and frequent work–life spillover. Women who succeed often rely on strong but fragile external support systems, including family and caregivers. We characterize STEM leadership as a “greedy” role that disproportionately limits opportunities for women seeking work–life balance, making leadership itself a structural barrier. This conceptualization is important because leadership roles carry organizational responsibility and influence high-level decisions, making them uniquely problematic. Leadership in STEM is a “greedy role,” demanding constant availability and long, inflexible hours. Women leaders individually navigate balancing greedy leadership roles with family responsibilities. Greedy leadership roles reduce women’s representation in leadership, resulting in less influence in high-level decision-making. Structural changes are needed to make leadership roles sustainable for women.