Women better at chasing their dreams

In the AMP survey, 81 per cent of women believe any age is the ideal age to achieve a dream.

With plenty of role models they are also more likely to pursue a major goal

A survey by life insurer and retirement savings provider AMP has revealed Kiwi women are more successful at chasing their dreams than Kiwi men, at 95 per cent v 80 per cent. Women are also more likely to pursue a dream or significant goal (76 per cent versus 71 per cent) than males.

As the first country in the world to have all the highest offices occupied by women - between March 2005 and August 2006 we had Dame Silvia Cartwright as our Governor-General, Prime Minister Helen Clark, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Margaret Wilson and Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias - we have plenty of female role models.

One role model, Lou James, physiotherapist and founder of Pinc & Steel International, the largest cancer rehabilitation service provider in Australasia, was awarded an AMP scholarship last year. She is not surprised by the AMP survey results, but wishes more people would go for their dreams whatever their gender.

"One thing I've learned from working with people affected by cancer is that you shouldn't wait for a life-threatening illness until you start pursuing your dreams," says Lou. "Do what you love and value what you do. My career plan hasn't been the easiest or the most financially rewarding, but it's about supporting people and that's what I love."

She says more women than men physiotherapists are working in the emerging field of cancer rehabilitation, but male practitioners also run successful practices.

"I think women are motivated to do this work because they find it incredibly rewarding to help people and receive positive feedback from the patients they help," says James.

"Men are less likely to sign up for this work, I think because men are more likely to look at the immediate tangible benefits. This is a new and emerging field in physiotherapy so those benefits are difficult to quantify. Women are also less worried about these things and value more the contribution they are having on people's lives."

Her opinion is shared by Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg in her book, Lean In, which quotes a 2011 McKinsey report that says women tend to stay in jobs that make them feel like they are making a difference and where they enjoy their colleagues, more often than men who look for more money and more recognition. Women seem to pass on promotion opportunities to keep that feeling of doing good, according to the researchers.

"I am not really surprised by these statistics because it's about how society places different measures of success in a woman's world versus a man's world," says James. "In a man's world the measures of success are far more tangible: money, position, status. In a woman's world the measures of success tend to be more intangible: how they feel, how they help others, what they consider to be worthwhile."

James' personal belief is that a good business should have both: "I've recently launched the 365 Survive to Thrive journal, designed to help women through their recovery from cancer. One way we could measure the success is how many women's lives it helps and the other measure of success is how many units we sell and whether it's profitable. To truly be sustainable, so that women in 10 years can have the same opportunity to be able to use that journal, it needs to pay for itself and be profitable otherwise it won't exist. So, it's my belief you need both, intangible and tangible measures of success."

According to the AMP survey, New Zealand women also tend to rely more heavily on the support of their families to help them achieve success (34 per cent compared with men at 29 per cent) and women said perseverance and determination were the key reasons they were able to achieve their dreams, while men put hard work at the top of the list.

Of the people AMP surveyed, women said they didn't feel as much regret as the men if they did not pursue their dreams (25 per cent compared with men at 38 per cent) and of those whose goals didn't work out, 30 per cent more women said the main reason was down to lack of access to finance (80 per cent versus 50 per cent).

Lack of time was another statistic significantly higher for the women (50 per cent) compared with men (32 per cent).

One thing both genders agreed on was that "any age" is the ideal age to achieve a dream (81 per cent women, 70 per cent men). These findings come as AMP's 2015 scholarship applications close.

The AMP scholarship programme is one of the largest of its kind and has provided more than $2 million to help more than 160 New Zealanders - from athletes to engineers, from young children to the older generation - over the past 17 years. The scholarships have proven that it's worth chasing your dreams no matter your age or gender.

Applications for the 2015 AMP scholarships close on September 18.

• For more visit: www.doyourthing.co.nz