I came across the infographic below (posted by Mashable) on generation Y women in the workplace. Generation Y (also known as Millennials) is composed of those born between the later 1970’s and the early 1990’s. As it is, I happen to be part of the Y generation.

Some of the facts that I was not surprised by were, Gen Y women:

• Use Facebook for personal usage rather than professional uses.
• Are more familiar with social media sites, and tend to log onto them every day.
• Have the most positive outlook for women in the workplace, compared to other generations.
• Work-life balance is the most important career factor. This does not surprise me since this is something very important to me. I think gen Y women are aware that to be  happy one must be fulfilled not only in their career but also in their home/personal life.

Here are some of the takeaways that I found most interesting:

• Even though we have a more positive outlook, we still are less likely to speak up then our male counterparts and feel underpaid (more than other generations).
• Almost half of gen Y women lack a clear career path. This surprises me since there is so much information and many tools on the internet about defining and managing your career goals.
• That only 50% of gen Y women (ages 25-29) have children. This seems surprising, because growing up we were under the assumption that you go to college, get a job, get married, and have children, in that order. You are never really told that there are gaps in-between, during which you are building your career and/or married but do not yet have children.

Oh, and between 1997 – 2011 the number of women-owned firms increased by 50%. Not surprising, we like to be the boss!