Our thesis focuses on the challenges and opportunities women in Europe are facing during the first years of their career aiming to explore if future female leaders will have to face the glass ceiling, defined as a transparent barrier that keep women from rising above a certain level in corporations, just as the generations before them and if not, what conditions helped them to achieve a leadership position. As women are still less represented in leadership positions, it was equally important to explore the conditions that are holding them back. Therefore, we applied a qualitative research design and interviewed nine female leaders under the age of 42 in four different European countries. Based on the grounded theory approach, we utilized the primary findings from the interviews to conduct a literature review. Our findings showed that mentoring, trainings, structural changes in the workplace, changes in the male role, quotas, work-life balance and performance appraisal increase the chances of women accessing or increase the likelihood of women accessing management positions. Gender-based stereotypes, on the other hand side, have a limiting effect on their advancement. As a matter of fact, several conditions turned out to be ambivalent, thus both restraining and enabling women simultaneously, such as corporate environment, communication and the leadership style. We could not identify any impact (positive or negative) for the concepts of promotion and compensation policies, expectation from society and guilt management. In summary, all mentioned concepts contribute to the continuing existence of the glass ceiling.