Women in the largest emerging-market nations consider themselves more ambitious than do their U.S. counterparts and are keener to attain top level positions, according to a report by the Center for Work-Life Policy.

At least 59 percent of women in Brazil, Russia, India and China describe themselves as "very ambitious" compared with 36 percent in the U.S., said the study, which drew on surveys of 4,350 college-educated men and women in the so-called BRICs and the United Arab Emirates and one-on-one interviews. At least 75 percent of women in Brazil, India, China and the U.A.E. aspire for a senior job versus 52 percent in the U.S., the report said.

Developing economies will expand 6.3 percent this year while advanced nations grow 2.3 percent, according to April projections by the International Monetary Fund. The BRIC economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China contributed almost 30 percent to global growth between 2000 and 2008, compared with about 16 percent in the previous decade, New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a December research note.

"There's this sense of ebullience that comes from a rapid period of change and many of the women feel like they really have a chance to make a visible impact," Ripa Rashid, a senior vice president of the Center for Work-Life Policy, a New York- based nonprofit group, and a co-author of the report, said in an interview. "They also have less battle fatigue than women in the U.S."

26 Million

Women in BRIC countries are catching up and sometimes exceeding male peers in academic credentials, "yet somehow this rich talent pool -- as many as 26 million in 2006 -- of highly qualified women has been ignored, overlooked and under- utilized," said the study entitled "The Battle for Female Talent in Emerging Markets," which was released this week.

Females represent 65 percent of college graduates in the U.A.E, 60 percent in Brazil and 47 percent in China. In India, 50 percent of women surveyed hold graduate degrees, which is 10 percentage points more than the men.

David Fuller's view Women represent the biggest underutilised pool of talent in the world. Countries where women enjoy something approaching equal rights and opportunities are much more successful, on average, than those which suppress women. I have said it for decades.