There has been a lot of progress for women in the workplace, but there’s still a long way to go, Marianne Cooper, sociologist at the Clayman Institute at Stanford University, said at the 2015 Women of the Channel event in New York City. In fact, that progress has started to stall, she said, with the number of women in senior leadership roles hovering at around 15 percent.

In the famous book "Lean In," by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, which Cooper helped provide research for, there are three drivers for this gap:

• Women believe they don’t have the skills needed for a job;
• It's seen as negative for a woman to be ambitious; and
• Women often view high-level positions as being incompatible with raising a family.

However, there are three things Cooper said women can do to help boost their colleagues and raise up the next generation of more confident women in the workplace.

1. Foster A Growth Mindset

Cooper said psychologists have found that success is determined less by a person’s IQ and more about having a growth mindset, or the belief that if a person keeps working on skills then they will improve. She said people with a growth mindset are found to be much more successful than those with a fixed mindset, or the belief that no matter how much they work at building a skill, they will never improve.

When comparing praise given to young boys and young girls, a study found that young boys were given twice as much growth mindset praise as girls. One way Cooper said women can help encourage success in girls is to praise them in a way that reinforces a growth mindset. For example, instead of telling a young girl that she's “smart” for getting a good grade on a test, Cooper suggested praising her or studying so hard and then seeing the fruits of her labor.

2. Mentorship And Sponsorship

While mentorship is important, Cooper said women need to also ensure that they're sponsoring their female peers in the workplace. The difference, she said, is that a mentor provides advice and support, but a sponsor more actively advocates for a woman behind closed doors. Cooper said studies have found that men and women are equally mentored, but that men have significantly more sponsors.

“We need to sponsor more and level the playing field,” Cooper said.

3. Change Your Response

Women often have a critical voice in their head, telling them they aren’t good enough for an opportunity, Cooper said. While that voice can be hard to eliminate, Cooper said women can change how they respond to it.  

“That critical voice in your head is gender inequality,” Cooper said. “It’s a personal manifestation of what’s out there that’s devaluating women and their competence and expertise.”