When it comes to careers, there is a stubborn theory that women are less ambitious than men. With age and motherhood, the story goes, women lower their career goals. They miss out on the top roles at companies not because they can’t do them, or because the opportunity is not there, but because they don’t really want them. Our research demonstrates, however, that this is simply not true. The issue is more nuanced—and more solvable—than most CEOs think.

Women@BCG Podcast Ambition is not a fixed attribute, nor is it impacted by the decision to become a parent. Ambition is nurtured—or damaged—by the daily interactions and opportunities women face in a company over time. CEOs and leaders can reinforce ambition in women by creating the right culture, thus improving the diversity—and success—of their leadership teams. Listen to the podcast.

We recently analyzed employee survey data from two global BCG data sources, comprising more than 200,000 respondents. Our findings show clearly that women start their careers with just as much ambition as men.1 Notes: 1 We analyzed data from BCG’s Decoding Global Talent survey, which was conducted in collaboration with The Network and included 203,756 respondents from 189 countries, of which over 141,000 were women. In this survey, we analyzed responses to the question “How important are opportunities to lead and take responsibility?” We also looked at findings from a new survey conducted by BCG, which included 5,447 respondents in 17 countries, of which over 2,700 were women. In this survey, we analyzed results from the question “Are you actively seeking promotion to a higher leadership position—either within or outside your current company?” The results of the second survey will be published later in 2017. Women’s ambition levels do vary, but they vary by company, not by family status. When companies create a positive culture and attitude regarding gender diversity, all women—mothers included—are eager to advance.

In other words, the problem is neither inherent nor related to motherhood; instead, it hinges on the day-to-day experiences of women at work. Ambition is not a fixed attribute but is nurtured—or damaged—by the daily interactions, conversations, and opportunities that women face over time.

The good news is that these factors are entirely within a company’s control. Our research points to four steps that CEOs can take to make leadership more inclusive and more aspirational—thus improving the diversity of their senior teams, and ultimately the bottom line.

Key Findings

The data points to several key findings that collectively demolish many myths about the ambition levels of women.

Women start their careers with as much ambition as men—or more. First and foremost, our data shows that, on average, women enter the workforce with the same—or higher—levels of ambition as men, in terms of their desire to hold leadership positions or be promoted.

Having children does not make women less ambitious. Our data regarding women’s ambition and motherhood may be surprising, but it is also unequivocal: having children does not affect women’s desire to lead. The ambition levels of women with children and women without children track each other almost exactly over time. For example, when asked to score the importance of leadership opportunities as a job attribute, the average responses from women with children were within 1% of those from women without children, across all age groups.

Ambition is influenced by company culture. When both male and female employees feel that gender diversity at their organization is improving, there is no ambition gap between genders. In other words, women aspire to leadership roles in companies that have positive work environments and value diversity. Conversely, at organizations where employees of both genders report the least progress on diversity—where women see an uphill battle to reach an unattractive summit—an ambition gap opens up between men and women. Both men and women become less ambitious as they age, but the drop-off is faster for women in these organizations, creating a gap that is 17 percentage points for people in the 30-to-40 age bracket—pivotal years in their careers.

Consider a large company with a predominantly male workforce that has operations in many different locations. At sites where employees reported that the company is committed to the retention of women, the ambition levels of women in middle management were, on average, over 20 percentage points higher than at other sites.

The results for companies within individual countries underscore this point. In a given country, there is wide variation among organizations, showing that CEOs have significant influence over ambition levels, regardless of societal constraints.

Positive steps benefit all employees—not just women. Finally, creating a culture that enables more women to be ambitious does not put men at a disadvantage. Among the best companies—those showing the most progress on gender equality—both women and men are more ambitious. There are clearly many factors at work, but our data shows that the gains of women do not come at the expense of men.

In short, when women work at companies where leadership looks achievable and enjoyable, they will strive to get there. Conversely, when the struggle to reach the top doesn’t seem worth it, women are more likely to make the entirely rational decision to step off the leadership track.

As a woman commented on InHerSight, a US-based independent career website that collects data and feedback on employees’ experiences in the corporate world, “Most women leave the company if they are ambitious, and management uses [their departure] as an excuse, instead of [recognizing it as] a symptom of the problems.”

The good news for CEOs is that they can reinforce ambition in women by creating the right culture. Organizational culture shapes the day-to-day experience of employees in a thousand small and large ways—the attitude of managers, the evaluations and career advice people receive, the comments they hear, and many other seemingly minor, everyday factors. When women opt out, they often describe a “moment of truth” that was the final straw—but that moment is the culmination of a long journey full of daily pain points. It need not be that way. Instead, companies can create the right culture to foster ambition among aspiring female leaders. (See the exhibit.)