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  • March–April 2020
  • Article
  • Harvard Business Review

What's Really Holding Women Back? It's Not What Most People Think

By: R. Ely and Irene Padavic
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

Ask people to explain why women remain so dramatically underrepresented in the senior ranks of most companies, and you will hear from the vast majority a lament that goes something like this: High-level jobs require extremely long hours, women's devotion to family makes it impossible to put in those hours, and so their careers inevitably suffer. Not so, say the authors, who spent 18 months working with a global consulting firm that wanted to know why it had so few women in positions of power. Although virtually every employee the authors interviewed related a form of the standard explanation, the firm's data told a different story. Women weren't being held back because of trouble balancing work and family; men, too, suffered from that problem and nevertheless advanced. Women were held back because they were encouraged to take accommodations, such as going part-time and shifting to internally facing roles, which derailed their careers. The real culprit in women's stalled advancement, the authors conclude, is a general culture of overwork that hurts both sexes and locks gender equality in place. To solve this problem, they argue, we must reconsider what we’re willing to allow the workplace to demand of all employees.

Keywords

Overwork; Employment; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Work-Life Balance; Organizational Culture

Citation

Ely, R., and Irene Padavic. "What's Really Holding Women Back? It's Not What Most People Think." Harvard Business Review 98, no. 2 (March–April 2020): 58–67.
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About The Author

Robin J. Ely

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • Racial Inequality in Organizations: A Systems Psychodynamic Perspective By: Sanaz Mobasseri, William A. Kahn and Robin J. Ely
  • Defending White Hegemonic Masculinity By: R. Ely, Sanaz Mobasseri and I. Oneyador
  • Defending White Hegemonic Masculinity: A Test of the Projective Identification Hypothesis By: R. Ely, Sanaz Mobasseri and C. Chu
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