The successful Australian woman is passionate, driven, focused, determined and resilient – but she has had to make a number of sacrifices in the name of success and while regret might be too strong a word, she is fully aware of these sacrifices and is striving to ameliorate them.

These are the findings revealed in Long Way to the Top, a White Paper authored by Melbourne financial planner, Charmaine Curtain from Global Partnerships Financial Consulting.

Ms Curtain said Long Way to the Top provides extraordinary insights into the Australian woman’s journey along the pathway to success and the challenges she continues to face.

“Australian women have jumped some amazing hurdles that a hundred years ago seemed insurmountable,” Ms Curtain said. “They now hold some of the most powerful positions in the country – we have a female Prime Minister, two female state Premiers, a female Governor General and two female state Governors. One of our female executives - Gail Kelly - is ranked eighth in the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women in the World.”

 However, Ms Curtain said that while Australian women have much to celebrate, they still have significant hurdles to overcome.

 “Many of the women I interviewed believe they have made significant sacrifices in the name of success,” Ms Curtain said. “These sacrifices included time, money and personal relationships. If my findings are typical, professional women are still being paid less than men, they still lack the financial resources or security to appropriately fund their own ventures, they still have poor access to business funding and they still have insufficient savings for retirement. In the twenty-first century, it is not good enough.”

For a full copy of the paper, visit www.gpfc.com.au and click on the ‘Files and Resources’ link.

Key Findings of the Report

• Many women (69%) believe they had sacrificed some aspect of their personal life in order to achieve success
• More than half (58%) felt the challenges they face were the result of external put on them by others in the workplace
• Almost half (41%) felt the challenges they face were the result of the internal pressure they put on themselves
• Most (80%) felt women were overcoming these challenges
• To achieve success in the work place most (77%) said women need to set goals and take charge of their own destiny.
• Most women (73%) were able to articulate an exact moment in business that stood out as a bad experience; only half were able to articulate a good experience
• While only a third (33%) could name a specific supplier who exceeded their expectations, a third more (33%) all but named the supplier and a further third (33%) spoke about service qualities that attracted their repeat business. The most often articulated quality was exceptional personalised service.
• Most women (86%) recommended service providers use networking and/or sponsorship of specialist women’s events to make professional women aware of their services and 70% said they use networking themselves as a way to connect with each other.
• Women recognised they faced three major financial challenges – lack of security/financial backing to go into business; having enough money for retirement; being paid less than their male colleagues.
• More than half (53%) said they relax by doing some form of exercise – typically, walking.
• Most women were voracious readers, with 84% saying they read their daily newspaper regularly. Only 15% said they had abandoned the traditional paper format in favour of online versions. Many women (69%) also admitted to reading gossip/women’s magazines.
• Women are generous givers with 84% donating their time and/or money to charity/charity events. Children’s charities were far and away the most popular, with 81% of women favouring them.