Attribution of Career Facilitators by Eminent Women from Canada and Finland

Abstract

Highly successful contemporary women from two countries, Canada and Finland, were surveyed in an attempt to identify the elements in their lives that facilitated or prevented their achievement level. This work is exploratory research into the similarities among factors that promote female achievement. The overall purpose was to expand our understanding of female talent development applicable to contemporary girls and women despite their national origin. In total, 1553 Canadians and 424 Finns, listed in a Who's Who biographical publication of each country were invited to participate. There were 827 respondents from Canada and 280 from Finland who chose to participate in the study. Data were collected by means of a written questionnaire dealing with career development. The two sample sets were then compared by their responses to the demographic questions. The two groups were very similar as to birth order, education, marital status and motherhood. Main results show that in recalling their past, the eminent women reported that their own qualities and personal convictions were the primary reasons for attainment of prominence or fame. Both Finns and Canadians also gave considerable credit to the close members of their families. Spouses and parents were reported as supplying much encouragement and support. Professors/instructors/coaches, school teachers, colleagues and friends were also seen as encouragers. Both groups of women identified the same five factors as being most detrimental to their careers: stereotypical attitudes of others, being female, children, availability of childcare, and parents' socioeconomic status. Findings are discussed in the light of the available research literature, and implications for educating gifted females are proposed.

Is research on gender‐specific underachievement in gifted girls an obsolete topic? New findings on an often discussed issue

“…Formally speaking, boys and girls within the entire talent spectrum have the same opportunities to develop their potential fully, and the outlook for female engagement in top-level positions is bright (cp. Yewchuk et al, 2001). However, a more explicit examination still reveals evidence of a gender-speci®c underachievement problem.…”

“…The reasons for the differences in these individual characteristics are primarily found in gender-speci®c developmental environments (and therefore again in a differential socialization, which is why Yewchuk et al, 2001, see above, can only be partially accepted): for example about one-third of the high school physics and mathematics teachers, both male and female, voiced the opinion that boys are better suited for their classes than girls (Ziegler et al, 1998;Heller et al, 2001); teachers also describe gifted girls as being more diligent and more conscientious workers, but award boys, however, with higher report card grades (see Kerr, 2000). Parents expect their gifted daughters to achieve well in all school subjects, including mathematics and the natural sciences; all the same, they deem these domains as being hardly relevant for later careers for their daughters (Noble, 1989); in addition they``discover'' concrete talents in their daughters more infrequently, and if they do, the reaction more often is`o verprotective'' (Kerr, 2000).…”

“…Yewchuk et al, 2001). Individual characteristics have been extensively investigated in connection with the cultural underachievement of women within the areas of mathematics and the natural sciences.…”

Cultural influences on gifted gender achievement

“…d Most, though not all, research on women's success has focused on individual circumstances (see e.g. Noble et al, 1999;Yewchuk et al, 2001). But this grand British``experiment'' to equalise opportunity at school for all girls in education has demonstrated that, with administrative planning, an educational structure for teachers to work with, and the will to see it through, it is possible to make a highly signi®cant difference overall in gifted girls' achievements at school, if not yet in working life.…”