Success: What Do Women and Men Really Think It Means?

Abstract

Occupational success has traditionally been measured in terms of position title, job classification and salary. If these objective measures alone are considered, women on average are significantly less successful than men in the workplace. Yet, interestingly, women who participated in this study believed they were successful even though by these objective terms they were less successful than their male counterparts. Indeed, when probed on what success meant to them, these women expressed a broader notion of occupational success. Their definition of success incorporated more subjective measures such as enjoyment, fulfilment, recognition and control. Specifically, this paper compares the way success is viewed by men and women in the Queensland Department of Education, a traditionally female organization. The study, based on a survey of 284 respondents and 30 in-depth interviews, concludes that women view success quite differently to men. Implications of this for human resource management are discussed.