Let's Talk Fundraising Podcast: Women in Leadership

Episode Overview

This episode doesn't shy away from difficult truths. Drawing on sector data and lived experience, the conversation covers the persistent barriers that prevent women from reaching the top — and asks what it will take for the sector to move from good intentions to genuine change. As Monwara puts it: "I think it just does feel a bit gloomy because I've been in the sector for so long." Anna, who stepped up to the CEO role at Ethiopiaid after nearly a decade with the organisation, offers a more cautious optimism — grounded in what she's building within her own team.

 

The Gender Pay Gap

The gender pay gap in the charity sector currently stands at 10.6% — equivalent to nearly £7,000 a year — a figure that, while improved from 14.6%, remains significant. The pattern is stark: the bigger the organisation and the bigger the salary, the less likely a woman is to be in charge.

Monwara draws on her own experience of this disparity: "I charge maybe £500 a day for my strategic fundraising expertise. I may be questioned for that charge and expected to charge a lot less, whereas somebody who is male may not be questioned as much." She's clear that this is not just about gender, but about the deeply embedded cultural expectations that shape how women's contributions are valued — and rewarded.

 

The Compounded Barriers Facing Women from Minoritised Ethnic Backgrounds

If the barriers are significant for women generally, they are compounded for those from minoritised ethnic backgrounds. Just 6% of charity CEOs identify as Asian or from a minoritised ethnic background, and no Black CEOs responded to the ACEVO survey at all in 2025.

Monwara, who identifies as an Asian Muslim woman, speaks with raw honesty about the additional layer of conditioning she's carried: "I always had this belief that I only deserve to work if I'm a good enough mum or if I'm a good enough wife." She describes navigating spaces where her mere presence as a woman was unexpected — attending a fundraising meeting in Bangladesh where she was the only woman among more than 50 men. "I've had to make myself small," she reflects, "because I've been worried that if I don't, then if somebody feels that I am maybe more capable, they won't entertain or encourage me in that role."

Her answer to this systemic problem is structural: "Making sure that there is fair representation — and being proactive, thinking ahead about what might be preventing people, and putting those systems in place."

 

The Role of Mentorship

Both Anna and Monwara speak to the transformative power of being believed in by someone further along in their career. For Anna, it was her predecessor as CEO who made the difference: "It wasn't until our outgoing CEO phoned me and said, why haven't you put an application in? Really gave me that encouragement of — of course you can do it."

Monwara's experience has been shaped by male advocates as much as female ones. She reflects: "Knowing that somebody has your back just gives you an awful amount of power." She also makes a compelling case for the often-overlooked role of recognition in mentorship, describing how she actively nominates women she coaches for awards and external recognition — a small act with significant impact.

Anna adds an important caveat to the conversation: not every woman wants to lead, and that should be respected. "Not everybody wants to be a leader and that's OK. It's about doing something that fulfils you."

 

What Organisations Need to Change Structurally

The episode is candid about the fact that good intentions are not enough. Monwara, who advises boards, observes that most remain male-dominated — particularly in larger organisations: "It just doesn't change by putting an ad out there. You have to personally start canvassing people in the sector and encouraging people to apply."

She advocates for co-leadership models — co-chair or co-CEO arrangements — as a practical way to make leadership more accessible and less isolating, particularly for women from underrepresented communities. Anna describes how Ethiopiaid has sought to flatten hierarchy, shorten the distance between the board and staff, and create genuine opportunities for team members to lead on areas of work — recognising that an empowering culture has to be deliberately built. "I really want them to feel we've got a real culture of empowering each other," she says, "because otherwise women are just never going to progress in leadership if we don't back each other and back ourselves."

 

Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome threads through almost every part of this conversation. Claire Stanley describes it from her own experience of stepping into a promoted post in a brand new sector: "I wish that somebody said to me, believe in yourself in the same way that you believe in yourself when you do a job interview. Because for a job interview, you can spend a week prepping for it — but then when it comes to doing the job in practice, all of a sudden you can feel overwhelmed with doubt."

Monwara identifies it as one of the central barriers she addresses in her coaching work. She uses unconventional methods — including mountain climbing retreats to Snowdon and Austria — to take women "to places they've never been in order for them to realise how far they can go."

 

The Impact of Maternity Leave on Career Progression

Two separate voices in this episode describe the same experience: voluntarily holding themselves back from promotion because they were pregnant or newly returned from maternity leave. Claire reflects: "I purposely didn't go for a promotion a number of years ago because I was pregnant. I just felt — what's the point, because they're not going to give me this promotion because I'm due to go off on maternity leave in three or four months."

Anna's experience was almost identical. Having returned from maternity leave, she saw a CEO role open up and thought: "I've just had a child, so I can't do that." It took an encouraging phone call from her predecessor to shift her thinking. Both stories point to the same structural issue: the sector needs to actively disrupt the assumption — internalised by women themselves — that motherhood and leadership are incompatible.

 

The Importance of Backing Yourself — and Each Other

If there's a unifying thread in this episode, it's this: women in fundraising need to back themselves, and back each other — and organisations need to create the conditions that make that possible.
"Give yourself that chance. Take a chance on yourself because unless you try, you don't know," says Monwara. "If you try and it doesn't work out, then that's learning, not failure."

Anna's message is equally direct: "Back yourself. Believe in yourself first of all, and shadow senior leaders and take opportunities to learn from them." She also issues a rallying call to those already in leadership positions to actively empower the women around them — because, as she puts it, "women are just never going to progress in leadership if we don't back each other and back ourselves."

 

Conclusion

This episode of Let's Talk Fundraising makes a clear and well-evidenced case: the charity sector has a leadership problem, and it's a structural one. The data — a 10.6% gender pay gap, only 32 women leading the top 100 charities, just 6% of CEOs from minoritised ethnic backgrounds — represents a sector that has been better at talking about change than delivering it.

But the conversation is not without hope. It lies in the women already in leadership who are actively clearing the path for others, in the organisations building genuinely inclusive cultures, and in the individuals who are learning — sometimes through hard-won experience — to back themselves. The message from Anna, Monwara and Claire is consistent: the sector must move beyond conversation and into action, one appointment, one advocate, one act of recognition at a time.