Fortune magazine released the results of a mail-in questionnaire survey today regarding women’s and men’s attitudes in the workplace. They found that most women (54%) thought female employees worked harder than their male counterparts, whereas only 17% of men agreed. As for applying for jobs, 77% of women thought that they had to have more experience or a higher degree than a man. Only 43% of men agreed. While 43% of men believed that genders were judged equally when applying for a job, only 20% of women agreed with that statement.
The study also noted that both men and women overestimated how well women were doing in the workplace. Most estimated that 4-5% of CEO’s in corporate America were women. In reality, the US Labor Department reports that women make up less than 1% of all CEO’s in 1,000 of the biggest companies in the US.
Both men and women said that the presence of women in the workplace has had a positive effect–noting the greater awareness and acceptance of different lifestyles and points of view.
The study was based on 2,100 returned forms. The average age of female respondents was 41 and the average age of the male respondents was 47. On average, men earned $113,000 and women $87,500.
Feminist Majority’s Empowering Women in Business report
