Teen Girls on Business - Simmons College

<strong>Teen</strong> <strong>Girls</strong> on Business: Are They Being Empowered?“Oprah . . . she’s like one of the greatestentrepreneurs I think of out there.She’s the first woman billionaire . . . . And Ireally admire her and her business skills.”-African American High School Girl“I want to be my own boss . . . . That’s whenI’ve reached like my highest level of success,when I’m taking . . . charge of everything,where I’m the boss.”-African American High School Girl“You make a lot of money if you like work inbusiness or you’re an entrepreneur.”-African American High School GirlAfrican American girls drawn to all business careersAfrican American girls are also positively inclined towardsbusiness and business careers. Like Hispanic girls, they havestrong values and ambitions, and see business careers as aroute to achieving both of these. They have a positive attitudetoward businesses in general, and are particularly excitedabout starting their own businesses. Unlike Hispanicgirls, however, when asked directly, they feel reasonably positiveabout being in management (36% extremely or somewhatinterested). This may in part be due to a greater percentageof parents in business careers (25% of fathers and25% of mothers) or to broader experience in outside jobs,teams, and social groups. African American girls also ratedthemselves the highest of all groups in leadership skills associatedwith success in business.Asian American girls attracted to businessOut of all four racial/ethnic groups studied, Asian Americansindicated the strongest top of mind interest in business.When asked to tell us what career they were most interestedin, 16% listed some sort of business career, compared to 9%for all girls in our sample. They were also more likely thanany other group to respond positively to the direct questionabout interest in business or management, with 42% sayingthey were extremely or somewhat interested. However, theywere less inclined than other groups to believe that businesseswere honest or ethical or were good for their communities.And, even though 41% showed strong interest in startingtheir own business, this was significantly less than theHispanic or African American girls. Nevertheless, overallthese girls showed a strong inclination towards pursuing abusiness career.White/Caucasian girls ambivalent about businessOur largest group, White/Caucasian girls, present a consistentpicture with respect to their attitudes toward businesscareers. They tend to be more skeptical and have less positiveimpressions of business, especially when it comes tohonesty and ethics. They also feel they would be less excitedor satisfied than other groups to have a job in business.While they think they would be reasonably well paid, making“lots of money” is not as important a career goal as it isto girls of color. In addition, they feel that a job in businesswould be quite stressful. Interestingly, these girls are mostlikely to have fathers in business careers (42%), and may feel30