Women in the Workplace

By Jennifer Hendrickson

Last year I finished my most recent graduate degree: an MBA (Masters in Business Administration). The capstone project was to write a master's thesis, a process which took about four months to complete. After much deliberation on the topic, I chose to perform research that built on a study conducted a few years earlier concerning women in the workplace. It's a topic I felt would be of interest to professional women, any supervisor leading women and any parent raising a daughter in today's society. So many people have asked me to share the findings that I thought I would dedicate this issue of Sustaining Business to it.

The title of the thesis (brace yourself) is "A Qualitative Study of Factors Leading to Self-Actualization Among Successful Women in Gender-Neutral Careers". That's quite a mouthful. Let's break it down: A qualitative study is research that is conducted by interview rather than a traditional survey. For my research, I interviewed thirty successful women and categorized their responses by common theme. The next key piece from the title is self-actualization. This is a concept first described by Abraham Maslow in 1954 with his Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow placed this trait at the top of a pyramid saying that when a person strives for growth and truly wants to realize their full potential in life, they have attained self-actualization. To reach the pinnacle one must first satisfy the lower, more basic, life needs. Finally, gender-neutral careers are defined as those that have not historically been held by women; therefore, nursing and teaching were excluded. Taking this into account, perhaps a less academic title (though still a mouthful) would be "What Makes Successful Women Who Have Not Chosen a Typical Female Career Strive for Balance and Growth?"

Factors Leading to Self-Actualization

After reading the interview transcripts, seven factors were identified by an independent five member panel as recurring themes and; therefore, were established as key factors to achieving self-actualization. They are as follows:

• Mothers: Mothers were overwhelmingly identified as the most important factor to the participants reaching self-actualization. The love, encouragement and support provided to them by their mothers provided them with the self-confidence to succeed in a gender-neutral career.
  Feeling of Love and Belonging: Regardless of whether mothers were cited, the second most prevalent factor was a feeling of love and belonging in their lives. This feeling was discussed in almost all interviews and the participants felt it was a key factor in their ability to become successful.

• Parents: Given that almost 50% of participants were raised by both parents, fathers also played an important role in the women's lives. Interestingly, fathers were generally not singled out as being a factor, but rather mothers and parents were discussed in groups.

• Non-Parental Encouragement/Support: Whether husbands, peers or friends, the encouragement and support from others outside the immediate family was discussed as being an important factor. Many women explained how they surround themselves with other strong females that they consider role-models.

• Having Teachers and Mentors: Teachers and mentors were explained to have played a key role in the women's development into a self-actualized person. They explained the importance of education and having those they hold in high regard tell them they are "good enough" and "smart enough" to achieve their goals.

• Self-Motivation: Interestingly, most women in the study acknowledged that they were largely self-motivated, but it was far less prevalent than the first five factors. Here the participants felt that nature played a role in them becoming self-actualized, but the nurturing that they have received in their lives was far more important.

• Faith: Participants seemed to either reference self-motivation as noted above or their faith in God as a key factor in reaching self-actualization. Several participants wanted to make it very clear that they would not be the person they are today were it not for their faith in God and His role in their lives.

So what's the ONE thing you can do to encourage your spouse, mother, sister, friend or daughter? It is apparent that the support and encouragement provided by parents, teachers, supervisors and friends in a loving and nurturing environment is key. The women repeatedly cited specific conversations with individuals close to them where they were told they were good enough, smart enough and talented enough to make a difference. It should also be noted that 86% of participants held at least a college degree with 23% holding a masters degree and 20% with a doctoral degree. These successful women were encouraged by these same people to obtain the education necessary to reach their professional goals.

I realize there are exceptions to every rule. Some women become successful in their chosen career and have been entirely self-motivated. Other women may not have much formal education or faith in a higher power and are still at the top of their field. However, this research shows that if a female is to have the best chance for success, she needs YOU to help build her confidence and show your support at home and in the workplace.

If you'd like to learn more or read the entire study, contact me. We use research like this to help coach, develop and mentor women (and men) in the workplace to help make them more efficient and productive. You can read more about all the services we offer at hendricksonbusinessadvisors.com.