Professional Women Tell All

By Taylor Mallory

What goes on inside the minds of successful professional women nationwide? PINK knows — and we’re ready to share.
For the third year in a row, we polled more than 2,500 savvy professional women who attend ed our annual, six-city PINK Conference Series — and found out what they really think about career and life. The good news? We at PINK, an organization dedicated to helping women advance in their careers, were thrilled that 98 percent of those polled believe they have a responsibility to help other women. And on the workplace front, the times may finally be a-changin’. Nearly 70 percent say sexism hasn’t hindered their careers, and 62 percent (up from 51 percent in 2006) feel they can be their authentic (feminine) selves at work and be respected for it. The bad news? Even fewer women asked for a raise, perk or promotion in the last 12 months compared to 2006 (51 vs. 54 percent). And the stakes were even higher. Of those who asked,
79 percent got a raise (up from 72 percent). Finally, while three-quarters of our respondents believe they’ll require at least $1 million in retirement, only 17 percent have saved more than half of what they’ll need to meet their goal. Here’s how women weighed in on these and other issues ranging from the passionate to
the personal. How would you answer?

This article originally appeared in the May.June 2008 issue of PINK Magazine.