This, More Than Kids, Affects Mom's Career
Photo by Getty Images
If you’re disappointed about the way your career is tracking, don’t blame your kids — or your husband. Blame the stubborn ol’ gender stereotypes that insist moms are better equipped than dads for child rearing. The messages, a new study has found, tend to seep into the way companies do business, ultimately giving men more career advantages than women.
“We found that most women graduate from Harvard Business School expecting their career to be as important as their partners’, but many end up in partnerships in which their husband’s career takes precedence,” according to study co-author Robin J. Ely, a professor of business administration at HBS. Ely studied Harvard Business School grads along with HBS colleague Colleen Ammerman and Hunter College sociologist Pamela Stone. “Since our study has come out, the media has jumped on this idea that husbands are to blame for women’s careers being not as equal in importance to theirs, but actually, we have no evidence that’s the case.”
STORY: I Failed When It Came to Breastfeeding
The disadvantage for women, Ely tells Yahoo Parenting, is “far more likely a combination of cultural messages about mothers being better caregivers than fathers, and organizational practices that give men an economic advantage.”
For the study, researchers surveyed 25,000 men and women who graduated from HBS over the past several decades. It found that male grads were much more likely to be in senior management positions, while high-achieving women were more likely to report that they hadn’t met the career goals they set for themselves in their 20s. Still, among Gen X and Baby Boomers surveyed, only 11 percent of women had left the workforce to become full-time moms — a figure that’s even lower, at 7 percent, for women of color. And these women haven’t left the workforce for good, with data suggesting that most will probably go back to work after a period of time.
Nicki Minaj: 'I Was Put Here to Be a Mother'
The survey also found that 50 to 60 percent of men of all ages were either “extremely satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their experiences of meaningful work, professional accomplishments, opportunities for career growth, and compatibility of work and personal life. Only 40 to 50 percent of women were similarly satisfied in those areas.
Working moms may also quickly find themselves no longer considered “players,” whether they’re stigmatized for taking a reduced schedule, passed over for high-profile assignments, or removed from projects they once led, the researchers write. They deduce it’s because, once kids get added to the mix, a woman is more likely to ask her boss for a flexible work week, a change in duties, a decreased travel schedule, or a work-from-home arrangement — which isn’t considered ideal from a ladder-climbing perspective.
Previous research has shown evidence of something Ely calls “flexibility stigma” — where those executives who opt for flexible work arrangements feel less fulfilled by their careers.
For Hanna Rosin, author of “The End of Men,” the new study reiterates the fact that, no matter how high up a woman is on the corporate ladder, she’s still responsible for the entire family ecosystem, something that’s largely unsustainable over time.
“When you tell yourself your kids are holding back your career, you’re stuck in a small box,” Rosin tells Yahoo Parenting. “Kids should be holding back everybody’s career — not just mom’s.”
