Teen Girls on Business - Simmons College

<strong>Teen</strong> <strong>Girls</strong> on Business: Are They Being Empowered?Active participants and leadersMany of the teen girls and boys in our study are activelyinvolved in activities outside of school. Over one-third ofteen girls and boys have some type of job in their spare time,and on average 73% belong to clubs, teams, or socialgroups. An impressive 43% of teen girls and boys on averagehold some type of leadership position in one of theseactivities.Expert interviews provided us with information on a list ofdifferent skills employed by major corporations when assessingand developing their management employees. Thisresulted in the development of a set of 12 skills and abilitiesassociated with success in management positions and leadershipin business. In our survey, we asked teens to rate themselvesagainst their peers on each of these skills. In addition,we asked them to rate themselves in general on “being aleader.” Using the raw scores on perceived ability, aLeadership Skills Indicator was developed for each respondent.The aggregate score could potentially range from 12(scores of 1 on each skill) to 60 (scores of 5 on each skill).Three categories were then created: low (aggregate score of12-30), medium (aggregate score of 31-42,) and high (aggregatescore of 43-60.) A high score would indicate that, ingeneral, the respondent felt that she was better than herpeers on the set of leadership skills. 10Using the Leadership Skills Indicator, we found that girlsand boys rate themselves equally overall. Similarly, whenlooking at specific skills contained in the set, teen girls andboys rate themselves equally on being a leader, being able towork with others on a team, speaking and performing infront of others, and getting people to agree with them. Thisevidence implies that in general, girls and boys share similarlevels of confidence in many leadership abilities.Major Differences Between <strong>Girls</strong> and BoysWhile teens share a number of traits in their future aspirations,there are significant areas of difference between girlsand boys.Strong educational ambitions<strong>Teen</strong>age girls and boys both report ambitious educationalexpectations, with the majority of girls and boys in our studysaying they will complete at least college-level education.These findings are supported by other research that indicatesHighest Level of Education Planning to Complete% Agree3%“I don’t think I would be very satisfiedstaying at home. I want to be involved<strong>Girls</strong>in something. Like I don’treally want to have to go throughall this education and not really use it.”60% 48%37% 43%Graduate SchoolCollege-High School Girl9%BoysOther10See Appendix 3 for further explanation.9