The Iron Ladies

Those who have watched Meryl Streep get under the skin of Margaret Thatcher on screen and felt convinced about it, would see a striking semblance to the portrayed grit and determination in the new-age women of India too. These women are now looking forward to career stickiness more than ever before, despite the odds and hurdles.

So reveals a global research study by Accenture, The Path Forward, released on International Women's Day, for gaining insight into behaviors and attitudes regarding women's careers. "This year's study is all the more interesting because factors like economic recession and changing lifestyle preferences have had an impact on the career paths," says Rekha M Menon, executive director, geographic services, Accenture India.

Flexi Hours-The New Mantra

One of the reasons-this largely stems out of the changing behaviors of organizations towards women as highlighted in Dataquest's cover story of December 2012, Second Innings: The Ecosystem's Getting Ready-the women cite for staying put are mainly suitable flexi work hours. In fact, according to the survey, 80% (Male-85%; Female-76%) of the respondents in India stayed at their jobs longer than they may have otherwise, because of a flexible work arrangement. In India, more women (66%) avail flexi work arrangements as compared to men (52%) far more than only 40% (Male-44%; Female-36%) of the respondents in US and 35% (Male-30%; Female-40%) of the respondents in UK who enjoyed some flexible work arrangement.

What is aiding the change is the fact that especially in India, women and men are being given equal opportunities and standing within organizations, as Menon suggests.

The research explores career satisfaction levels, aspirations and factors for career advancement. Further, it examines the factors that may hold professionals back from progressing in their careers and seeks to better understand the support and programs companies provide that attract, develop and retain high-performing employees.

Tenacious Attitudes

And, the main findings reveal a tenacity unheard of, that women in India possess. Women in India are more satisfied with their current job situation-a greater number of women (40%) are satisfied with their current job and are not looking for new job opportunities as compared to men (28%). As far as opportunities taken to move career forward are concerned-in India, women are far more enterprising (Male-54%; Female-76%) and accepted more responsibility or a different role to move their careers forward, while 46% (Male-48%, Female-44%) of the respondents received more education or training.

About half of the respondents in India felt there were barriers for career advancement-52% (Male-54% and Female-50%) of the respondents felt that a lack of opportunity or career path is holding them back in their careers, while about 74% (Male-70%; Female-78%) of the respondents said that they proactively manage their own careers. Some of their counterparts, for example in Indonesia revealed the main drawback to be more familial responsibilities.

Other factors playing prime roles in determining the shelf life of a woman's career include self-confidence being the biggest contributing factor towards career growth, work-life balance, sacrificing time with family for career success, slowdown in career growth since becoming a parent, etc. Not to be discounted is thus the takeaway that Indian women are no longer willing to be taking a backseat in any field, particularly where it is a question of their careers.