maternal influence was the leading factor that determined whether children stayed in school or left before graduating. According to the study, “Researchers found that for every year a woman stayed in full-time education, the likelihood of her daughter also staying for an extra year increased by 20%.” A college degree and career path are help close the perceived gender gap in families, and women are a strong academic role model for their children. While women are at work, their daughters are inspired. They look to their mothers as role models and dream of their own futures. This trend is spreading around the world. Women are attaining higher degrees: Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorates. Their daughters are learning there are no limits to their futures. When mom is the head of a company, starts her own business, or works outside the home, daughters grow up imaging themselves in those roles. The legacy they leave for their daughters means she has less doubt about her Page 164 E The Magazine for Today’s Female Executive
abilities and a wider array of opportunities. The studies that support these educational benefits in children of educated and working mothers are growing. We’re learning more details about how they bestow their legacies on their children. In 2015 the New York Times reported on one of the most comprehensive studies that follows the link between maternal education and education of daughters. The study covers 50,000 adults in 25 countries and reports on education, work status, and income. The article explains, “Daughters of working mothers completed more years of education, were more likely to be employed and in supervisory roles and earned higher incomes.” These findings can be echoed all over Central Asia where women have earned degrees and returned home to help their villages. In countries that face extreme poverty, instability, and threats from war; an educated woman can bring hope to her entire village along with empowering her daughters. Subscription link www.female-exec.com/s.html