Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
The glass ceiling is largely due to the fact that to rise to top of a profession, you need to devote yourself almost entirely to your career. That's why most executives with a family have a spouse who either doesn't work or who works part-time. That leaves the ambitious career-oriented spouse free from worrying about bills and swim lessons and chores around the house, and able to be on-call 24/7, travel frequently, and have the energy to excel in an extremely competitive role.
A) High-status career
B) Spouse with a high-status career
C) Family life
Pick two. Ambitious men have an easier time disregarding B than ambitious women do, because ambitious women often consider a high-status spouse to be part of the package of success. For the gap at the very top to close, we'll have to see more highly ambitious women adopt the mating tactics of their male counterparts - which is to put a higher value on nurturing and parenting qualities in a mate than status and earning power. So more executive track women who want a family marrying the guy from IT and letting him be the primary caregiver in the family, rather than seeking out another ambitious executive-type.
That alternative is for companies to de-emphasize long hours, 24/7 availability, travel, etc. among top executives. It's hard to imagine how that could be put into practice, though.
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It's almost like there are societal institutions and structures in place to educate women from birth that they shouldn't be devoted to their career, that they should be provided for and not provide for themselves, that being highly ambitious in your career is not as rewarding and accepted as being a caring and nurturing parent, and that they should be the primary caregiver for children.