# Sheryl Sandberg on Women Leaning Out > Women are leaving leadership roles due to lack of support, not lack of ambition, says Sandberg. - Title: Sheryl Sandberg on Women Leaning Out · Business Insider - Summary: Women are leaving leadership roles due to lack of support, not lack of ambition, says Sandberg. Sheryl Sandberg says women are stepping back from leadership… - Keywords: sheryl sandberg, lean in, women in leadership, corporate leadership, workplace gender gap, maternity leave, work-life balance, meta, lean in report, women in workplace, sandberg goldberg bernthal foundation, sandberg bernthal venture partners - Source: Business Insider — https://businessinsider.com/sheryl-sandberg-lean-in-why-women-leaving-corporate-leadership-2026-9 - Author: Julia Pugachevsky - Published: 2026-09-19T09:00:01.31+00:00 - Read time: 1 min - Topics: sheryl sandberg, lean in, women in leadership, corporate leadership, workplace gender gap, maternity leave, work-life balance, meta, lean in report, women in workplace, sandberg goldberg bernthal foundation, sandberg bernthal venture partners ## Sheryl Sandberg's concern Sheryl Sandberg, Meta's former COO, says more women are leaning out than losing ambition. > This is not the women who are saying, 'I don't want to do it' ## 2026 leadership gap Lean In's 2026 report shows women have equal career motivation but less promotion desire than men. > This is not the women who are saying, 'I don't want to do it' ## 25% women cite personal obligations 25% of women who don't want promotions say personal obligations, versus 15% of men. > 25% of the women who didn't want to advance cited 'personal obligations' ## Household labor gap Women do more household labor and childcare, especially in the sandwich generation. > We know women do more of the housework at home ## Maternity leave challenges Women with short maternity leaves face higher childcare costs and less flexible schedules. > For women facing short (or nonexistent) maternity leaves, inflexible schedules, and paychecks that pale in comparison to daycare costs ## Sandberg's solution Sandberg says companies with more women leaders have better performance and work-life balance. > We know when companies have more women in leadership, performance is better ## 2025 study findings Adding a woman to a US company board increased female employment and earnings by 1-2%. > One 2025 working paper from the IZA Institute of Labor Economics in Germany studied how gender diversity impacted retention in US companies using US Census data ## Ambition gap closes The ambition gap disappears when women believe companies want them in senior leadership. > What's really interesting is that the ambition gap in our data collapses when women believe companies really want them in senior leadership ## Sandberg's personal story Sandberg pushed for pregnancy parking at Google and egg freezing coverage at Meta. > You kind of need a pregnant woman to think of that in order for that to happen ## Sandberg's advice Sandberg recommends better parental leave, flexible schedules, and open communication with women. > Let's not find cultural reasons to give better opportunities to men than women ## Sandberg's support Sandberg supports women's choices to leave leadership for family, education, or business. > I think being at home with your children is great ## Key takeaway Sheryl Sandberg says women are stepping back from leadership because they feel unsupported, not due to lack of ambition.