Are women losing our ambition? That was the takeaway for many from LeanIn.org and McKinsey’s new research this week, which found that 80% of women want to be promoted, compared to 86% of men. Sheryl Sandberg told Bloomberg that companies that don’t do the right thing for women are “causing women to lean out.” My former colleague Beth Kowitt wrote about the growing “ambition gap” for women in corporate America who, faced with the reality of what advancement looks like, no longer wish to climb the ranks.
But the question that brings up for me is: how are we defining ambition? If women are deciding that pursuing a promotion track isn’t what they want, what do they want instead?
Despite lots of commentary on the tradwife movement, most women don’t want to abandon their professional identities entirely. After I wrote about Lean In’s findings in Tuesday’s newsletter—specifically, how this gap is manifesting more strongly for women who work remotely—I heard from MPW Daily readers who agree that while their ambition hasn’t disappeared, it has changed.
While corporate America has gotten worse, options outside of it have increased. Portfolio careers as fractional executives, content creators, independent operators are possible. When women are stuck in a corporate structure that doesn’t serve them, why would they say they want more?
