The Changing Image of the Working Woman

How Working Women View Each Other

The image of the working woman is changing, at least among women with established careers. The employment firm Lee Hecht Harrison (LHH) surveyed 143 female human resources executives and found only 31 percent of long-tenured businesswomen think the women coming into the professional business world are more career-minded than their own generation.

All of the women surveyed began their careers more than 10 yearts ago, and the majority had done so more than 20 years ago. The survey also found that 62 percent of the women surveyed think the new generation of businesswomen is less willing to work long hours and unwilling to sacrifice other aspects of their lives for work.

Today’s working veterans think the women coming out of school now will be better able to achieve a work-life balance. This is partly due to employers’ adoption of flexible employee programs and partly because women recognize they can have both life and career.

Veteran businesswomen view newcomers as more self-assured. They are more confident of their ability to perform and move up the career ladder. Also, they think the new generation is more inclined to pursue their own career development.

However, most veterans also perceive obstacles to women’s advancement in the workplace. Seventy four percent say gender is still a barrier to advancement for women. However, only 16 percent think women entering the workforce today perceive their gender as an impediment.

“That’s a tremendous disconnect,” said LHH’s Nancy Murnin, “which suggests the perception of progress is gaining much faster than progress itself.”

~Adapted from Springfield Business Journal, September 20-26, 2004

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