Workplace Study: Women Take On More, But Ask for Less
March 20, 2009
Suzanne Heibel--HispanicBusiness.com
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Gender equality in the workplace is nearly a reality, according to a recent international study done by Accenture. When asked how successful they are in the work place, both men and women polled right around 60%, and about 75% of each gender felt confident in their skills and abilities. Accenture, a global management and consulting company, surveyed 3,600 business people in 18 countries, 100 men and 100 women per country, in celebration of International Women's Day.
Ironically enough, the major differences between genders lay in women's struggle to find the right foothold in the business world. Fifty percent of efficacious businesswomen said they feel stretched in the work place but 70% of successful women still ask their bosses for new challenges. Less than half of men request more work. Though the results are in, the psychology behind these statistics is still an unknown. Perhaps women simply aren't given enough to do because they are coddled, or it could mean that women are willing to do more to ensure a burgeoning career path. Somewhat a contradiction, women are 24% less likely to ask for a promotion or a raise than men are.
"When we're asking as women for more challenges, we are alleviating pressure from our leadership. We're doing more things for our organization while growing as our individuals," explained Nellie Borrero of Accenture, who believes that career women combine ambition with a natural instinct to nurture. "We typically take that role [to] confirm our value and . . . to be a team player. But when we have to ask for something like a raise, we aren't asking to help anyone but ourselves."
And successful women don't stop at asking for more work. More than half are willing to switch jobs, travel, and even relocate to continue their climb up the company ladder.
"Women have that level of confidence and comfort to ask for more and the more they ask and the more they learn," said Borrero.
Perhaps a signal of the changing times or the fierceness of competition to stay ahead, only 14% of all polled men and women have a formal mentor at their job that they look to for career advice. Most people instead rely on family and former coworkers to fill the void of a formal work adviser.
"I was completely surprised that women don't have mentor relationships," said Borrero. "This is a given, we need our mentors to be successful. The [women] that didn't have [a mentor] said they did understand the importance of it. I think this goes back again to women won't ask for something that only benefits them."
Borrero also said that although women didn't report having a mentor, it is possible that informal mentors exist, but weren't mentioned because they weren't officially labeled as such.
Surprisingly, the statistics in various countries and were similarly aligned. Men and women scored nearly even in the majority of nations for the majority of questions. The only main major gender differences across the globe were in successful women's view that technology is not as crucial as men saw it.
"For both genders, the most successful people were more likely to tap into technology," said Borrero. "For men, it was a lot easier for them to adapt to it."
Although no data was collected on the average salaries of each gender nor the actual number of men versus women in each nation's workforce, it is clear that women are moving up by their own integrity, hard work, and willingness to throw themselves into any situation.
Source: HispanicBusiness.com (c) 2009. All rights reserved.
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