Women in positions of leadership is nothing new. They have been leading countries, shaping social and economic policy and advocating for greater prosperity for a long time.

Examples are throughout recorded history:

• Queen Hatshepsut, born 1508 BC, became one of the most powerful women in the ancient world as the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, who ruled longer than any other woman in Egyptian history. Her tomb is located in the Valley of the Kings.
• Empress Theodora born in 500 A.D. into the lowest classes of Byzantine society, eventually advancing to rule over the Byzantine Empire equally with her husband.
• Wu Zetian born 625 A.D., was the only female in Chinese history to rule as emperor to this day, and considered one of the most ruthless and powerful women in Chinese history.
• Eleanor of Aquitaine, in the 12th century at age 15, became an independent ruler of one of the largest and wealthiest in the provinces of France.
• Queen Elizabeth I of England and generations later, Queen Victoria form 1819, as regnant of the United Kingdom created the colonial British Empire to 14.2 million square miles, spanning six continents, and controlling counties such as Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, South America and Sudan. She also supported the 1838 Act to abolish slavery throughout all colonies in the British Empire.

Learn more about amazing women in history.

Despite these historical capabilities in leadership, today in the US, women only comprise an average of 16 percent of the members of executive teams. Worse, is that companies in the top quartile for racial and Ethnic Diversity are 30 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians. There is a linear relationship between racial and ethnic diversity and better financial performance: for every 10 percent increase in racial and ethnic diversity on the senior-executive team, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rise 0.8 percent, according to McKinsey’s report entitled, “Why Diversity Matters.”

In March, our monthly webinar entitled “Ambition is Not a Dirty Word,” featured business performance coach, Susan Strong of AdviCoach. We discussed why more women haven’t risen to positions of power, what businesses can do to help encourage and achieve financial performance improvement, as well as what women must do to advance in their careers, their businesses and their personal lives.

Notably, in corporate America, women fall behind in earnings and upward mobility early and keep losing ground with every step. Unless this changes, it will take more than 100 years for men and women to be represented equally in the C-suite.

For more about the most Powerful Women in the last decade, see the Time magazine article, “The 25 most Powerful Women of the Past Century.”

It is said that “Ambition is the path to success; persistence: the vehicle in which you arrive.”

Let’s keep driving forward.