The rise of the new careerist

Forget downshifting, marieclaire.co.uk’s new work survey reveals that today’s woman is all about ambition. It’s partly down to recession, and embracing the reality of work in today’s world. But it’s also about a new found focus and can-do attitude

Two thirds of us admit to being ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’ obsessive about our jobs according to our new survey in partnership with women’s network Everywoman. We’re also more ambitious than our partners and two in five of us take home more money than our other halves.

Our research found that the pre-recession dream of downshifting and escaping the rat race is a thing of the past. As working women today, we’re more concerned about making our way up the career ladder. More than half of us are answering email and work phone calls outside of office hours and our jobs are seeping into our leisure time.

This new career-focus has fed into our culture too, with workaholic women taking over our screens – from Claire Danes as the ultra-focused CIA officer Carrie Mathison in Homeland, to Borgen’s charismatic Prime Minster Birgitte Nyborg, The Killing’s obsessive Sarah Lund and The Bridge’s single-minded Saga Noren.

More than 80% of us believe it’s important to see women in senior positions within their organization, but 70% say there a few women actually occupying these roles.

‘Role models are of vital importance to ambitious young women,’ says Karen Gill MBE, co-founder of everywoman who partnered with Marie Claire on the survey. ‘There’s a growing pool of female talent poised to knock at the board room door. British business now needs to invest in and harness this talent, which in turn will drive diversity and growth.’

Many of us feel anxious about the impact children will have on our jobs but 61% of women who’ve taken maternity leave said their career aspirations changed afterwards, with a third feeling more ambitious post baby-break.

Marie Claire’s Working Women Survey – The Facts

- 50 % of us admit to answering email and work phone calls outside of working hours - A third of us respond to work emails late at night or very early in the morning - 62 % of us ‘self-edit’ on Facebook and Twitter to keep up our ‘professional branding’ - One in four admit to following our boss on Twitter to ‘network’ and furthering our career - 80 % of us don’t accept all colleagues’ Facebook friend requests, with a quarter blocking all colleagues and others controlling what colleagues can see through the privacy settings. - A third of us have delayed motherhood for our careers - 40% of us are more ambitious than our partner and a third of us would even break up with someone if they weren’t as ambitious as us - 35 % of us neglect household chores with 27 % of us cancelling personal appointments like the doctors for work - One in five of us feel that we neglect our partner for work and 27% of us regularly eat takeaways or microwave dinners because we get in so late from work

What do you think? Are you worried about the impact of children on your career? Do you feel as though you put your job first? Let us know what you think in the box below or tweet us @MarieClaireUK #MCatwork

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