Do Women Suffer from an 'Ambition Gap'?

Recently Sheryl Sandberg has taken a lot of heat for claiming that women suffer from an 'ambition gap'. While speaking at the World Economic Forum on January 27th, Sandberg cited a study by the Economist that only 36% of American women self-identify as 'very ambitious.' Why aren't there more very ambitious women in the USA?

Sandberg argued that the “ambition gap” is due to the fact that achievement and likability are negatively correlated for girls. “No one calls little boys bossy,” she quipped. Sandberg goes on to point out that our societal norms teach girls to value themselves based on looks and 'playing nice' whereas boys are taught to value themselves based on their intelligence and ambition. For example, while Sandberg was at a Gymboree last month there were two children's t-shirts for sale that caught her eye. The t-shirt for girls said "Pretty like Mommy"; the t-shirt for boys said "Smart like Dad". What gives? What does our society think its OK to value girls based on looks and not on intelligence?

Gymboree T's -Gender Stereotypes at Its Finest

Sandberg, a Harvard MBA, also points out that "It's now been 15 years (since she graduated), and of the people I know every single man is working full-time and almost none of my female friends." As a female MBA student, I can relate to what she's saying. Over my year and a half at Tuck, I've met so many male CEOs, VPs...etc. However, I'm pretty sure I can count the number of female senior executives I've met on one hand. Personally, I find that a little depressing. My hope for my MBA class, is that we women will pour ourselves into our careers for as long as we chose to work, instead of holding back out of deference to social norms, or in anticipation of “starting a family one day.” If we can do that, I'm confident we can close the ambition gap for future generations and finally bring more female leaders into the C-Suite.

To see Sandburg's full commentary go here: WEF - Sandberg Sees Global 'Ambition Gap' for Women