Report: Gender Roles in Workforce Changed

The first report from the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce has been released today, and it shows that for the first time, young women entering the workforce have just as lofty career goals as men. In addition, becoming a mother doesn’t change these ambitions, as was the case in the past.

The study is the only of its kind to look at over thirty years of data about life at work and at home. Says Ellen Galinsky, the lead author of the study,

“Our findings are striking and surprising,” said Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of Families and Work Institute and lead author of the study. “There are many firsts in this study — the first time that younger men and women feel the same about job advancement and the first time that there is no statistically significant difference between men and women in their views of appropriate gender roles.”

Companies can use this research to improve employee satisfaction and recruiting techniques. This report also shows that companies need to realize that different generations think about career goals very differently.

Here are some of the most notable statistics from the study:

• In 1992, 80% of men and 72% of women under the age of 29 wanted jobs with greater responsibility. Today the figure is 67% of men and 66% of women.
• Children do not decrease the want for more job responsibility, as was the case in the past.
• Employed fathers spend more time at home with the children than they did in the past. The figures for employed mothers spending time at home with the kids has not changed.
• In 2008, 26% of women in duel-income households earned at least 10% more than their spouses. That number was just 15% in 1997.

You can read other study findings here.