Her Side

Research Suggest Gender Gap Begins in Childhood

By ABS Contributor | Published on: November 18, 2012 Comments (0)

There’s ample evidence that the gender gap persists at the top of the professional world: Women make up just 3.8% of the CEOS of the America’s largest companies, lead just 17 of the world’s nations and are paid—at least in this country—roughly 70 cents on the dollar that their male colleagues earn. It’s depressing stuff.

But new research from LinkedIn tells an even sadder story. In looking at the career aspirations of U.S. professionals as children, it seems that the astounding lack of women in some of the world’s most powerful professions could be explained by their childhood dreams.

LinkedIn asked 8,000 professionals to answer the question: “As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?” “These dreams of children are really pure.,” says LinkedIn career expert Nicole Williams. “This is pre what your parents thought you should be and certainly before you started thinking about salaries or societal roles and pressures of what you ‘should’ be. And that’s what makes them so telling.”

What’s the most telling is the differences in aspirations of young men and women roughly 20-30 years ago when today’s professionals (and LinkedIn members) were children.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

Related Stories

Gender-Diverse Corporate Boards Outperform All-Male Teams

Obama Getting More Money from Liberal Super PACs and Women