Will workplace equality ever really exist for women?

A recent New York Times article, "A Labor Market Punishing to Mothers," highlights the persistent disparities in workplace equality for male and female parents.  Author David Leonhardt's analysis suggests that the lack of corporate policy regarding family responsibilities is at the heart of why mothers bear the brunt of workplace-based sexism with regard to career development. 

I would say that while  I generally agree with this statement, policies often don't adequately address the individual, subtle issues of sexism that occur within companies.  I would also say these tendencies exist to a large extent, within our society as a whole and are simply being mirrored within the subculture of the corporate environment.

I think this point is elaborated quite well by Claire F. Ullman, Ph.D, in one of the response letters to the Editor. Ullman suggests that until fathers change the way they work, there will be no true equality for mothers in the workplace:

"When fathers behave more like mothers, curtailing their work commitments to care for children, two things will happen. Mothers will be able to curtail their own commitments, allowing them to maintain a stronger hold in the job market. And as the behavior of fathers and mothers becomes indistinguishable, women will no longer be punished disproportionately by the market for having children."

Even the most well-meaning "work-life balance" corporate policies are limited in their effectiveness if the leadership are not truly following their own policies.  It creates a dichotomy between what companies say they offer and what the reality is really like for their employees. 

We are more and more an "always on, always connected" culture, one that tries to fit our children in like puzzle pieced between our work commitments.  In most corporate leadership, it is men who make the decisions and set the pace for their organization to follow. 

As Leonhardt, says, "We’ll have to get beyond the Mommy Wars and instead create rewarding career paths even for parents — fathers, too — who take months or years off. We’ll have to get more creative about part-time and flexible work, too."  This is not just about women, but it does affect how women succeed in the workplace, because they typically are the ones who have to make the hard choices: when to return from maternity leave, whether to work part-time or on a flex schedule to accommodate school schedules and whether or not to stay at home after having a child. 

Yes, there are more fathers out there choosing this path, but I bet that the average conversation between an expectant father and his supervisor (or colleague) doesn't include the question, "So, after your baby is born, are you thinking of coming back to work or staying at home with your little one?" 

True workplace equality for women can't happen until our society truly embraces the idea that fathers have an equal - and equally important - role in parenting.  That shift change has to occur within families, where it becomes a kind of "corporate policy" that spreads into the workplace and becomes the normal way of business.  Work and family can co-exist, but mothers shouldn't automatically shoulder the burden of having to make the tough choices between family and career. 

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