Corporate leaders around the world believe women employees possess slightly more resilience than men, when it comes to overcoming challenges and turning them into opportunities, a survey by global IT consultancy Accenture says.

The survey of more than 500 senior executives from across 20 countries including India stated that showing resilience has increasingly become "the key to retaining a job".

"More than two-thirds (71 per cent) of corporate leaders reported that resilience was very to extremely important in determining who to retain," it revealed.

About 53 per cent respondents said that women were "very to extremely" resilient, while 51 per cent said the same about men.

Interestingly, about 60 per cent of the senior level executives in various companies said that they are providing women with career enhancing assignments. About 40 per cent are preparing women for senior management roles, it added.

"Resilience -- combination of adaptability, flexibility and strength of purpose -- may be the new criterion for professional advancement. In the current world of economic uncertainty and intense competitiveness, firms that instill resilience in their up-and-coming leadership will have a clear advantage," Accenture Chief Leadership Officer Adrian Lajtha said.