While women remain highly ambitious, work-place success is no longer defined by job titles or pay grades but by happiness, flexibility and a sense of purpose, Stylist can exclusively reveal.

A thousand Stylist readers responded to The Working Ambition Survey by Stylist and Google to increase our knowledge of women’s experiences of the working world – and here’s what you told us. Self-confidence is a challenge. Lack of self-belief was declared as the biggest barrier to success by 46% of respondents, followed by lack of opportunities (32%) and financial barriers (30%). Despite 70% of respondents stating they are ‘ambitious’ in their careers only 48% would say this out loud.

Most respondents said that they felt confident in their skill set but the majority (68%) are prioritising upskilling over the next year: 62% for intellectual reasons, with 59% and 58% saying they wanted to improve their earnings and career potential. Around half have a clear career plan for the next decade.

Our survey found that being in charge of working life is crucial, with nearly all respondents (92%) having boundaries in place at work and most (88%) agreeing it’s important not to be micro-managed.

“It’s no surprise that women are still hugely ambitious, but it is clear that what success means in 2023 has changed beyond recognition,” Stylist’s Editorial Director Lisa Smosarski says. “Where once we valued pay rises, promotions, job titles and status symbols like corner offices or company cars, we are now prioritising purpose, satisfaction, balance and flexibility: in short we’re putting our selves first, but that doesn’t mean we need to compromise on our goals or what we want to achieve. It just means we - and the businesses that hire us - need to work differently.”

She adds: “We do need to tackle the confidence gap, as this is still the biggest barrier for many women from reaching their goals. Keeping a Praise Log (making a note of your achievements and what you’ve done well), asking others to help you focus on your strengths and skills and avoiding comparison are all proven methods to help you start re-framing your mindset at work”

This year, Stylist is working with Google to upskill as many women as possible in high-growth, high-demand careers and disciplines. Google have created a number of different courses to make that happen which are virtual and flexible (and you can take as long as you need to complete them).

As part of our partnership they’ve given us a number of free access to enrol certificates to distribute (at no cost to you) to Stylist women – sign up here.

Women are still ambitious but fear holds them back, Stylist x Google survey finds