A new survey offers an illuminating glimpse at the way gender shapes workers’ perceptions about their career opportunities.

The survey of more than 3,000 employees by CareerBuilder finds men anticipate much higher pay than their female counterparts and are more likely to expect to reach positions in corporate leadership.

Forty-four percent of men say they expect to eventually make $100,000, more than double the percentage of women (20 percent) who expect the same.

Similarly, men (9 percent) are more than twice as likely as women (4 percent) to believe they will one day own a company.

The gender gap is narrower when it comes to other leadership positions. Nearly as many women (27 percent) expect to reach a position as manager as men (29 percent).

However, women are more than twice as likely as men to believe they will not advance beyond an entry-level, administrative or clerical role: 22 percent compared to 10 percent.

One of the most obvious barriers to female advancement in the workplace remains pregnancy and childcare. The latter responsibility continues to fall disproportionately on women, whether they are in a committed relationship with the other parent or single.

The CareerBuilder survey does not shed light on the impact people believe having children has on their careers, but it does show that most young workers say they want to delay having kids until they are established in their careers.

Sixty-three percent of women say they want to wait until at least 30 to have children, while 15 percent would like to wait until 35. Roughly the same percentage of men (64 percent) say they want to wait until 30, but twice as many (30 percent) say they would like to hold off until 35.

“The majority of workers over the age of 25 postpone family plans to focus on their careers, but there is a vast difference in what men and women expect to actually get out of their jobs,” Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer at CareerBuilder, tells BenefitsPRO. “Women tend to expect lower level positions and lower annual compensation than men. There is still much work to do in encouraging women to pursue higher positions.”

Instant Insights /

Women and men still have very different career expectations

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