Kay S. Hymowitz is a favorite demographer who often writes for City Journal where she is a contributing editor. Here she looks at the reasons for the scarcity of women at the top of corporations, government organizations, law firms, universities and medical schools. Hat tip to Instapundit for the link.
Unsurprisingly, she finds the answer in one word: children. And oddly, to the extent to which firms have "family friendly" policies, in such firms women are even less likely to be found at the top.
She identifies the true issue. Top managers, whether called partner, president, chief financial officer, dean, or whatever, are obsessive workers, putting in 70 to 80 hours per week and traveling multiple times per month. Man or woman, one cannot put in such hours and be involved in one's children's lives.
I spent 30+ years training managers, teaching management. I would tell my students that those of you who become truly successful will "live" your job.
It will be the first thing you think about in the morning, the last thing you think about at night, and very nearly everything you'll think about in between. You might take off an afternoon sometime during the weekend for the family, and even then I'll bet you check your email, text messages, etc., while doing it.
You will be gone 1-2 weeks a month on business travel, and 1-2 evenings a week when home on business-related activities. You probably won't take all of your vacation time - too busy, unable to get away, unwilling to let the firm realize they can get along without you or to discover you can do without it.
As a result of being work-obsessed, you will be an indifferent spouse and a poor parent. Relatively few mothers are willing to make these sacrifices. As Hymowitz notes, many very successful women have no children.
