This past month, the Boston Consulting Group – a global management consulting firm – released startling data about women in the workforce, especially as they climb the corporate ladder. BCG concluded that nearly three-quarters of companies (around 69%) have a much lower engagement rate among their most senior women employees as compared to their male peers. Using data from 345,000 female and male employees at 46 private companies across the globe, BCG analyzed factors like appreciation, work-life balance, compensation, opportunity, colleague cooperation, mentorship, and other aspects that make up engagement levels.
The study also concluded that the companies without an engagement gap scored much higher on things like appreciation and mentorship. So it appears that as women get closer to the glass ceiling, for all but a quarter of companies, the farther away that glass ceiling remains.
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Although the data says otherwise, there are still people claiming the wage gap or the glass ceiling is a myth. One argument against the wage gap is that women simply aren't drawn to higher paying jobs. Besides the ignorance of that statement, it simply isn't true. And this most recent study shows that as women advance in their career it often times (69% of the time, in fact) does not get better.
What is disheartening to me as a millennial woman is the idea that it doesn't get easier -- that as I have a family and other milestones, even as I advance in my career, things overall may get harder. There is no doubt in my mind that these women studied don't want to be disengaged. They're just tired of banging on that impenetrable glass ceiling. So if weariness sets in, millennial women need to step up. We're all in this together, so let's keep climbing.