The Confidence Gap
We have Come So Far… Any Yet We Are Still So Behind
In the private equity (PE) world, where many of my clients operate, the reality is stark:
In the UK, only 13% of senior positions are held by women.
In venture capital (VC) firms, that number rises slightly to 23%. Slightly better but far from satisfactory.
And across the Atlantic? Not much better.
According to a 2025 report led by Michael Ewens at Columbia Business School, USA:
Women make up 22% of investment professionals
Yet hold only around 6% of senior investment roles across the 661 US private equity firms
Let that sink in.
When I held senior leadership positions, I never came across another Black woman in private equity.
I am still looking for them.
Why women are scarce in this sector is a topic which we shall address another time. What I do want to address is confidence.
The Confidence Gap
In 2026, there’s one word I keep hearing from women across industries:
Confidence.
Or more accurately, the lack of it.
Not because women are incapable and not because they lack ambition.
But because the environments they operate in are not designed for them to thrive.
You can’t expect peak performance from people who are constantly navigating:
Unspoken bias
Limited representation
Lack of psychologically safe spaces
Leadership models that don’t reflect them
Confidence doesn’t disappear overnight. It erodes day by day.
So to close out Women’s Month we, at Arte Leadership, wanted to honour women by creating a poem for those who, for whatever reason, have lost their confidence.
An Ode To All Ye Incredible Women Who Have Lost Confidence by Chitupa Mung’omba
An Ode To All Ye Incredible Women Who Have Lost Confidence
(Take a breath, take a breath, take a breath)
I am enough
I am enough exactly as I am right now.
I am capable
I am capable of doing all that I choose to do.
I am worthy
I am worthy of providing myself with what nurtures me.
I am courageous
I am courageous and so can begin to take new actions.
(Take a breath, take a breath, take a breath)
I am competent
I am competent to fulfil my greatest intentions.
I am wise
I am wise to discern what is right for me and what is not.
I am brave
I am brave to explore my most revolutionary ideas.
I am knowledgeable
I am knowledgeable, so I can find many options to move forward.
(Take a breath, take a breath, take a breath)
I am uniquely me
I am uniquely me and so can unapologetically live freely in my power.
I am confident today.
I am confident right now.
I am confident in this moment.
(Take a breath, take a breath, take a breath)
An Ode To All Ye Incredible Women by Chitupa
Why This Matters in Leadership Spaces
At Arte Leadership, we strongly believe in the marrying of diverse modalities to effect the greatest transformations in all spaces including the PE space, FS space, retail space, and more.
We understand leadership because we’ve lived it
In high-pressure environments
Driving profitability
Expanding deal flow
Operating at peak performance
We believe in honing in on the people and women, and we focus on:
Deciphering what their needs are, then creating them
Propelling their success to effect the firm’s/ organisation’s needs, wants, goals and visions
Is your organisation doing everything it can to make women feel supported to perform at their best and dare we say ‘thrive’ in these well guarded male spaces?
If you would like Arte Leadership to create a leadership development programme that encapsulates the needs of your women to achieve more sustainable goals then stop talking about what you can do and actually do it.
Contact us at arteleadershipteam@gmail.com.
