Women lose interest in making it to the top after just two years because they are turned off by having to sacrifice it all to be a boss.

A study has revealed that women found it ‘demoralizing’ having to be on call 24 hours a day and to network on the golf course to secure the big deals.

After more than two years in work women’s aspiration and confidence fell 60 per cent and 50 per cent, compared to just 10 per cent for men.

A new study of American workers found that women stop trying to get top jobs because they found it demoralizing to be on call 24 hours a day (file picture)

The researchers said that women are not going for top jobs because they want a better work life balance for themselves.

One woman is quoted in the study as saying: ‘Watching middle-aged white male after middle-age white male tell their war stories of sacrificing everything to close the sale was demoralizing.

‘I just kept sinking lower in my chair and thinking that I would never be able to make it to the senior ranks if this was what it took.’

The study of 1,000 men and women in the US found that men and women were both keen to advance when they first got a job.

Among new employees, 43 per cent of women and 34 per cent of men said that they had the aspiration to reach top management.

However after two years those figures slumped to 16 per cent for women whilst men stayed the same.

A similar picture emerged when employees were asked if they had the confidence to become a director.

Some 27 per cent of women who had just started working agreed but after two years that decreased to 13 per cent.

Two years after gaining their first job, only 16 per cent of women still had aspirations to make it into top management (file picture)

Among men the figure went down far less, from 28 per cent to 25 per cent.

The study by Bain Capital said that women’s expectations were dashed by excessive demands of work, including the socialising that was necessary to get on.

Much of the praise at work consisted of men being ‘hailed for pulling all-nighters or for networking their way through the golf course to land the big account’.

The study says: ‘If corporate recognition and rewards focus on those behaviours, women feel less able, let alone motivated to try, to make it to the top.’

Among the women surveyed one said that being on call 24/7 was ‘not appealing at all’ whilst another said she did not want to ‘trade my personal life’.