Survey on Women's Career Awareness

 

In the five years since Act on the Promotion of Female Participation and Career Advancement in the Workplace was enacted, there has been an urgent social need for local governments and companies to promote women in management positions, and various measures have been taken to encourage men to actively participate in housework and childcare and to create opportunities for women to improve their business skills.

On the other hand, what do working women think about their own promotion to management positions?

Hakuhodo Inc. conducted a "Women's Career Awareness Survey" of men and women in their 20s and 30s in June 2021, and here are the main findings of the survey.

＜Key points of the survey results>

(1) Among women in their 20s and 30s, 30% want to be in management positions and 40% want to be leaders and more than half of men do not want to be in management. More than half of men want to be in both categories.

(2) The reasons for not wanting to be in a managerial position that differed greatly between women and men were "I'm not good at standing out and attracting attention," "I'm not good at setting big policies and guidelines," and "I'm not good at leading a team," as well as concerns about team building.

(3) For women, the number of items that the "ideal manager/leader" should have is higher than for men.

(4) As for women's specific image of the ideal manager/leader, the most common responses were "motivating subordinates" and "watching over subordinates from an appropriate distance," with "nurturing and caring for subordinates" in mind. Men, on the other hand, aim for "smooth execution of work" by sharing and organizing work with subordinates.

(5) The reasons given by women for wanting to become a manager or leader were those that emphasized interpersonal relationships, such as "being relied on by subordinates and others" and "expanding internal and external networks. The top reason for men was to increase their own influence, such as "higher social status" and "opinion is more likely to be accepted.