The Cost of Calling it an Ambition Problem

​International Women’s Day 2026 centers on the UN theme Rights. Justice. Action. For all women and girls. Against this backdrop, public discourse in late 2025 resurfaced a familiar, and misleading narrative: that women’s stalled progress in the workplace is driven by an “ambition gap.” These stories often individualize systemic failure, placing the burden on women to adapt, self-optimize, or lean in while obscuring structural barriers embedded in funding systems, workplace design, technology, and care infrastructure.

​At the same time, material conditions tell a different story: female-founded companies received just 1.8% of VC funding in 2025. Algorithmic and platform bias continues to shape opportunity at scale. Gaps in childcare and care infrastructure remain largely unaddressed, forcing women to absorb unsustainable tradeoffs to remain professionally engaged.

​Join this panel as we dig in these topics with an action-oriented view toward what comes next.

​Panel:

• ​Dr. Anne Welsh, Executive Coach, Clinical Psychologist

• ​Dr. Felicia Newhouse, Founder, AI-Powered Women @ MIT

• ​Nicole Herrera Santiago, Keynote Speaker, Workplace Expert, Career Coach

• ​Stacey Messier, General Manager, Cambridge Innovation Center

​Moderated by: Alison Campbell, Founder, unBurnt®

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