Less than half of women call themselves ‘very ambitious’: survey

More than half (54 per cent) of American women describe themselves as “very ambitious” about their careers compared to 44 per cent of Canadian women, according to a survey by SurveyMonkey and CNBC international.

Only 29 per cent of women in the U.K. and 27 per cent in Australia describe themselves that way, found the surveys of 3,800 employed women overall.

For all four countries, 18- to 34-year-olds are more likely to describe themselves as “very ambitious’ about their careers compared to their older counterparts. And men in this age group are more likely to consider themselves “very ambitious” when it comes to their career:

• 72 per cent of men versus 65 per cent of women in the U.S.
• 66 per cent of men versus 54 per cent of women in Canada
• 60 per cent of men versus 51 per cent of women in the U.K.
• 44 per cent of men versus 43 per cent of women in Australia

Women’s concerns
Internationally, women face concerns that taking advantage of paid leave, flex-time or work from home arrangements might prevent them from achieving their career goals, says the report.

Women in the U.S. (46 per cent), Canada (46 per cent), Australia (50 per cent) and the U.K. (38 per cent) say they are concerned that taking advantage of flexible work arrangements might prevent them from achieving their career goals.

And while some women believe that their organization’s workforce is more diverse than it was three years ago (35 per cent in the U.S; 39 per cent in Canada; 33 per cent in the U.K.; 31 per cent in Australia), less than a quarter believe their organization offers more opportunities for women compared to three years back (24 per cent in the U.S.; 21 per cent in Canada; 20 per cent in both the U.K. and Australia).

However, men are more likely to think their organization is offering more opportunities for women: 31 per cent in the U.S and the U.K.; 32 per cent in Canada; 33 per cent in Australia.

Canada is lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to gender equality and diversity in the workplace, according to a separate report from Mercer. Proof of this is the large pay gap that persists between men and women in Canada, according to a survey released by ADP Canada.