Last night I was on a terrific panel about different kinds of work choices along with a career coach and a “mompreneuer.” I represented the full-time working mom perspective. The group asked interesting questions, many driven by personal experience, but still relevant to the group. One exchange stood out for me: a woman asked when we thought the corporate environment might change enough for women to have access to the kind of benefits and flexibility that would keep them in the workforce.
The career coach suggested that it would happen when so many women opted out of the corporate world that companies had to take notice. Because companies are increasingly hiring freelancers and part-timers, and women have more opportunity to start their own businesses, there is likely to be a greater number of women leaving corporate environments, though not opting out of work all together. She also suggested that benefits like flexible workplaces are at least in part a function of the economy. At times when labor is cheap and easy to find — like now — flexibility is at greater risk because it’s considered a benefit, rather than an integral part of workplace culture.
I had very mixed feelings about her answer. While I agree with her comments on the economy, it’s not likely that women will be opting out en masse anytime soon. We need the salaries, but even more importantly, we need the healthcare, retirement plans and other benefits. The option to leave the corporate world and become a freelancer or start a business is only available to a small number of women who have partners or other support systems that make their exit possible. (A caveat: the mompreneur on our panel was her family’s primary breadwinner, even before her business took off. She did it by working and saving on her own. But she also had a husband who cared for the children full-time. There are many models, but they all require some kind of support.)
The women most able to leave the corporate world are those at the top, and what gains we have made in the working world will retrench if we lose them in large numbers. We will be leaving men to manage companies, and they will not be crying over our absence. Of course there will still be many women in the workplace, but they will be the ones who couldn’t leave — middle managers, secretaries (still the country’s number one profession for women), and cleaning staff. Their working lives will get worse without women in top jobs to advocate for better benefits and family-friendly work policies.
As the Shriver Report points out, over 63% of women are now the primary breadwinner or co-breadwinner in their families. A third of women in the top 20% of income brackets make as much or more money than their husbands. These women can’t or won’t abandon the corporate world anytime soon. If they did they would be leaving money on the table and exposing their families to risk. Overall, our 23% pay gap would widen.
So is everything hopeless? Are we destined to be miserable, overworked corporate drones? I don’t think so. In response to the original question — when will things change — it will happen when men demand family friendly workplaces too. And increasingly, men are insisting on work life fit. If family policy is always considered a “women’s issue,” it will never gain traction. But if men, who still overwhelmingly hold positions of power in our corporate world get on board, we will see real change.
It’s heart-breaking for feminists to think that we can’t effect change in this area on our own. But until women are valued equally in the workforce, it won’t happen. And yet there’s hope in this area too — with better family policy both in corporate and government arenas, women will be able to move up the corporate ladder in ways they haven’t been able to before. Family policy is the driver that will propel women to higher achievement, better lives and genedr equity in an out of the boardroom.
Related links:
- Cali Yost at work+life+fit calls for an end to talking about flexible work as a “women’s issue.”
- An NPR story from earlier this week: Women in the Workplace Still Face Inequality.
- The panel was sponsored by the Park Slope Parents Career Networking group and Momasphere Events, both great organizations creating community for parents.
- Two provacative articles from the British news: The Only Glass Ceiling That Exists Today is Created by Women and Women Have Got Greedy With Maternity Leave.
1 Comment
October 24, 2009 at 3:26 am
I agree, that’s my answer to this question as well. Things will change when men and women, mothers and fathers, are all asking for changes. The economic/social trends that are likely more relevant as well are that post-recession we will continue to see scarcity of an educated workforce and increasingly women and mothers will be in demand by employers, Boomers reaching retiring age but not wanting to leave work entirely (either for financial or personal reasons) but not wanting to work 50 hr weeks anymore, and Gen Y men in particular wanting better work-life fit and more involvement with their families.