In today’s corporate world, the balance between work and personal life has become an increasingly pressing issue. This challenge particularly affects women striving to build successful careers. Let’s explore the complexities of this balance and its impact on career development.
Work-Life Imbalance
No matter how much company executives and government officials try to maintain gender quotas and promote women to leadership positions, historically, we see this process significantly slowing in our century. We often hear that the reason for low female representation on boards of directors, in company leadership positions, and in government administration is that such responsible work demands complete dedication and takes considerable time, making it difficult for women to combine such activities with family life.
However, a reasonable question arises: don’t men in leadership positions have families and try to maintain a work-life balance? They do. They strive to maintain this balance and suffer equally from its disruption. So what really hinders women’s career development and their advancement to leadership positions?
Research conducted in international companies has shown that stories about women’s inability to combine career advancement with family responsibilities are a myth. Studies of staff turnover rates showed no difference between indicators among women and men. The work-life imbalance, more commonly attributed to women, is equally present among male employees.
“Stories about the impossibility of combining career advancement with family responsibilities for women are a myth”
In fact, two-thirds of surveyed men acknowledged that work-family imbalance is a heavy burden, but only one-third try to do something to reduce stress from such imbalance. Women more often try to maintain balance between work and family, but even when companies provide such opportunities, it negatively impacts their careers: they lose leadership positions, status, and part of their income. Thus, in a social context, leadership positions remain male privileges.
Additionally, many men still hold certain stereotypes about women and their desire for career advancement. For example, there’s a belief that women want to have children and don’t want to work, or if they do want to work, they won’t agree to jobs involving frequent business trips or requiring 60-70 hours per week in the office. The assumption is that such personal preferences will prevent women from being successful in their careers. However, none of the men expressing such views consider the fact that women without children also struggle to reach career heights.
The Culture of Overwork
Interestingly, all men who believe that family prevents women from building careers are convinced that work should be 24/7. They constantly experience stress due to numerous tasks and constant deadlines to remain “stars” among their highly professional colleagues. The issue here lies in competition among colleagues and the constant desire to satisfy client demands, which are often cultivated within the company and sometimes transform into a culture of overtime work throughout the organization. Obviously, the need to constantly work overtime doesn’t make either women or men happy. However, women suffer more frequently due to their desire for life balance.
By the way, it’s a known fact that the tendency to work overtime doesn’t contribute to increased productivity and, consequently, company success. On the contrary, this tendency often leads to decreased productivity and increased sick leave costs.
Why Do Companies Ignore Employees’ Desire for Balanced Life?
The answer can be found by looking at the problem more deeply and uncovering several hidden aspects. For example, the stereotype that family prevents women from building careers is nothing more than a reflection of the existing social system, as well as a manifestation of psychological protection for both women and men against the negative emotions caused by the need to work overtime.
Scientists conducted a series of interviews, paying attention not only to what participants said (or didn’t say) but also to how they expressed themselves. The results were stunning. Consciously or unconsciously, almost all employees revealed emotional conflict due to the necessity of working 24/7 and daily attempts to balance work and private life. Obviously, the need to constantly choose between work and private life creates extraordinary pressure on every employee, as they understand that any decision might cost too much.
“Fathers separate their sadness and feelings of guilt – projecting these feelings onto women in the company”
Women experience different psychological problems. Social norms and traditions in many cultures, even today, assert that women’s primary direction should be family life, childcare, and maintaining the household. Work and career take a back seat here. MUST take a back seat. And companies, seemingly, create all conditions for women to realize themselves as caregivers, mothers, wives, offering women various work accommodations – flexible schedules, remote work options, and others. But all these “perks” come at a high cost when it comes to women’s ambitions to build successful careers.
The “Ideal Worker” Paradigm
For the “ideal worker,” everything unrelated to work is secondary, even if it’s very important personally. This approach creates internal conflict for men, especially those with children. It leads to deep feelings of guilt about constantly being at work and spending limited time with family.
To cope with their negative feelings, men often employ a psychological tactic: they separate their sadness and guilt, projecting these feelings onto women in the company. Loving fathers simply don’t understand why women would want to build careers when they have the privilege of being constantly with their children and caring for them. Some men still openly oppose mothers working, considering the work world to be a male domain.
“No woman wants to gain a reputation as a career-focused person…”
Moreover, companies often deliberately create conditions that seemingly support working mothers but actually push them off the career path. For example, switching to part-time employment or purely administrative work is perceived in companies as a status reduction and places a certain “stamp” on a woman as a specialist who is either unable or unwilling to work overtime, thus preventing her from becoming an “ideal worker.”
Bad Reputation
Another factor holding women back is the “bad reputation” of female partners with children who manage to achieve professional success. Society perceives such women as bad mothers, believing it’s impossible to be successful in career while being a good wife and mother. This stereotype strongly influences young women who must choose between work and family.
No woman wants to gain a reputation as a “bad mother,” “bad wife,” or career-obsessed person willing to sacrifice everything for work. These factors constantly remind women that work isn’t for them, making it unsurprising that women are completely uncertain about their careers and work in general. This is especially true in corporate cultures where 24/7 work is the norm. Here, women constantly must choose between dedicating themselves to home, thereby undermining their company status, or dedicating themselves to career and getting labeled as a “bad mother.” This, of course, doesn’t undermine such corporate cultures in any way, leaving the question of gender inequality open.
It should be noted that often the problem hindering women’s career development isn’t so much companies’ unwillingness to promote them, but rather the issue of overtime work that has become standard in many companies. By the way, this issue undoubtedly affects men too, though women pay a higher price.
Conclusion
Therefore, the solution lies in a comprehensive review of corporate policies, especially since implementing normal working hours would benefit all employees. This way, neither women nor men would need to make sacrifices for work, which would guarantee happier, more productive employees and, consequently, a more successful company.