Although highly educated women the world over are ambitious, the degree of ambition and aspiration among Brazil, Russia, India, China (BRIC) and United Arab Emirates (UAE) women is extraordinary: 85% in India and 92% in the UAE consider themselves very ambitious, and in Russia and China the figures are 63% and 65%, respectively. Yet, only 36% of U.S. women consider themselves very ambitious. Furthermore, 80% or more of women in Brazil, India, and the UAE aspire to hold a top job.
These findings come from a study by Bloomberg, Booz & Company, Intel, Pfizer and Siemens that collected data on 4,350 college-educated men and women in BRIC and UAE and supplemented the data with qualitative research from focus groups, virtual strategy sessions and interviews with hundreds of white-collar women. They found that talented women in emerging markets are ahead of the curve in unexpected ways.
The study's most surprising finding is that women are flooding into universities and graduate schools: They represent 65% of college graduates in the UAE, 60% in Brazil, and 47% in China. In Russia, where communism promoted universal access to education, 86% of women aged 18 to 23 are enrolled in tertiary education. More than a third in that age group are enrolled in tertiary education in Brazil and the UAE, and 50% of the Indian women (versus 40% of the Indian men) in the study's sample hold graduate degrees.
Women in these countries face unique challenges and this presents a major problem for multinational companies whose hopes for growth are pinned on emerging markets. Multinational companies need to develop the best-educated and best-prepared managers in those markets, which increasingly means women.
Every year, large numbers of college-educated women enter the BRIC professional workforce; in 2006 the number was around 26 million. Smart multinationals recognize their potential and are finding ways to recruit and retain these women, giving them the support they need to break through a very thick glass ceiling.
Source: The Battle for Female Talent in Emerging Markets by Sylvia Ann Hewlett & Ripa Rashid published in the Harvard Business Review.
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