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Why are women less ambitious than men?

Do you think that we women are less ambitious than men? Well I don’t think so if I look at great examples like Indira Nooyi, Chanda Kochar and Priyanka chopra.

But when I look at myself and my other friend like me, I can see the dying aspiration to grow (not my current truth).

You may not hear this statement form people directly but may feel the powerful message through certain behaviors during and assignment or wicked smile on new suggestions made in a meeting.

I have studied this survey report (Courtesy www.bcg.com)

In words of bcg.com: They analyzed employee survey data from two global BCG data sources, comprising more than 200,000 respondents. Their findings reflected that Women are as ambitious and willing as male employees. What creates a difference is the support provided in the

So, being a woman, being a mother or having a family does not make a woman less ambitious

 Women are not less ambitious but less women are ambitious.

I am not talking only about a career or a job, as just staying in one role and growing is not being ambitious .I am also talking about our ambition to stay fit, look good and take care of our self.

How and when does this die in us?                        

Have you ever cited to yourself” I am comfortable in this job” or “I don’t want this promotion” or “I need to focus on my kids”. Have you ever said that “this position or company is good for mother so I am not changing my job” Or I don’t need more money.

Do you ever call your husband “the main bread earner of the family?”

IF answer to all these questions is a Yes then this is a must read for you.

I remember myself as the one with limitless dreams and ambition as a kid. I grew up believing that I can be anything I want.

But if I look at myself now, I cannot relate with the same ambitious child I was.

I am not in this journey alone, I have notice a lot of women like me compromising on their potential and calling it “Work Life Balance”

We stop feeling the urge to grow as we get married and have kids.

What are reasons that forces us to stop from being successful

  • We believe that we cannot have our own ambitions after marriage. We are brought up in a way where we believe that a woman’s life should only be revolving around her family.    Honestly my marriage has provided me enough of cushion to re think and re discover my dreams and passion.
  • Fear to be more successful than our man: I know that it doesn’t hold true for everyone but it has been a part of our thought process since ages. We have considered our careers secondary and made all h sacrifices required on day to day basis.
  • Salary disparity: Women have been paid less since ages. There is a known salary gap between a man and woman employee. So even if we want, our partners remain the main bread earners of the family and obviously his salary matters more
  • Fear of how success looks like:  Any big dream can scare you, as we don’t really know what it actually looks and feels like. People have always ridiculed success and money. People have been taught that success is evil .But the reality is far from this. Success is nothing materialistic, but a feeling of content and has very little to do with money.
  • Fear of hard work: All my life I wanted to follow my occasion, do different things but I could not get that much courage to put in extra effort. But honestly now that I am writing, I realised that putting in little effort every day, learning little every day is all that makes a huge difference in long run.
  • Lack of confidence: A lot of time we underestimate our potentials ourselves. We don’t believe in our talent. We take it lightly and ae mentally prepared to let it go. It’s good to priorities your family and sacrifice for them but it’s equally important to look after yourself and do what keep you happy and satisfied.
  • Lack of support at work place: It become easier if our work place understand that being a woman, being a mom come with different set of responsibility. Reports says that organisations with flexible work culture have better success rates for women.

My message to every wonderful lady reading my article:

“Dear Womum, you are amazing. You are free, you can do everything you want to. You are above every comparison and judgement. Dream and dream big, the success awaits you! “

I hope you found this article helpful. What are your biggest ambition in life? Please do let me know by commenting below.

Believe and good things will happen to you!

Lokah Samastah sukhino bhavantu!