On the Minds of Millennials: Leading Women's Survey on Gender and Careers

3 min read | Susan Colantuono

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*From Leading Women's "On the Minds of Millennials: Leading Women's Survey on Gender and Careers"

In a 2016 Linkedin post titled, Dear Men: Wake Up and Smell the Inequality, Adam Grant cited several studies as he wrote,

"In corporate America, 88% of men think women have at least as many opportunities to advance as men. This is the finding of a major new study—almost 30,000 employees across 118 companies—by LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Company. Just 12% of men felt that women had fewer opportunities to advance in their organizations. Yet when you look at the actual data, women’s odds of advancement are 15% lower than men’s. It’s not because women are less capable: the evidence is strong that although men tend to be more confident leaders, on average women are more competent leaders."

Article after article (and, frankly, conversation after conversation) put forth the idea that the Millennials are the answer to the problem of the leadership gender gap. "Surely," the argument goes, "these young people see a bright future ahead and will progress undeterred by the experiences of their older colleagues." Leading Women teamed up with researcher, Lexie Toorock, to determine whether this is fact or fiction.

  • Do Millennials think that women have at least as many opportunities to advance as men?
  • Are they being supported in their career choices?
  • Where are they finding their advice and guidance

What we found is a mixed bag of good news and bad news, but the answer to the first question is a resounding NO! The Millennials responding to our survey (single, married, parents and not, women and men) agree much more than we even imagined that gender equality remains an issue for them.

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*From Leading Women's "On the Minds of Millennials: Leading Women's Survey on Gender and Careers"

In alignment with the recent Deloitte study, they also perceive that their opportunities for advancement are limited.

That's some of the bad news. For the good news...

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*From Leading Women's "On the Minds of Millennials: Leading Women's Survey on Gender and Careers"

For the full details on the findings of our study request the infographic here

Millennial Infographic

What will you do?


63% of Millennials believe that their leadership skills are not being fully developed
... but the ability to progress and take on a leadership role is one of the most important drivers when evaluating job opportunities.*
 
Leading Women has the solution to help your organization take your Millennial talent from individual contributors to managers. Contact us to learn more about our research-based and innovative Ready, Set, LEAD!™ program.  
*Deloitte Millennial Study 2016

 

Lead ON!

Your Team @ Leading Women