Over at Orgtheory, Isabel Fernandez-Mateo has a comment on why there are so few women at the top of the work hierarchy – and her research to look into it further. They invited me to offer a comment in response, which you can see there as well.
I wrote, in part:
We especially need to consider the role of state policy in shaping family-career interactions over the life course. When adequate family leave is not available, when health care is too expensive, when high-quality preschool education is inaccessible or too expensive, when the state-sanctioned workday is too damn long – all that increases the pressure that women’s family obligations place on their career trajectories.
If you don’t already read Orgtheory, I hope you will check them out.
This is very true that no matter how much we talk about women liberalization and equality, some discrimination still exists particularly in the corporate spheres. I would say that it is the lack of opportunity that results in only a few women being on the top in official hierarchies.