Professional Growth and Domestic Duties

With the rise of websites such as Etsy and platforms like Pinterest, women are more able than ever to begin their own dream endeavor.

Well, with a caveat.  Most of these sites, at this point, are catered toward the crafty do-it-yourself set by providing users a platform to market and sell their products easily.  Many of the women who have Etsy shops that are promoted through Pinterest have gone on to encounter business growth, profit margins and notoriety in certain circles. This is all good as it continues to promote women in business.

What about the corporate business sector?  For a long time, business school enrollment was only made up of 1/3 women while law school and med school crept closer to that 50/50 ideal. Recent studies indicate that more women are considering business school because GMAT applicants are now comprised of 41% females.  This is a small step towards the business world mirroring the society it represents.  Yet there is still much work to be done as women business professionals only make up 16% of C-suite level jobs.

Why the disparity between the number of women who obtain an MBA and the number of women CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and CMOs?

If 1/3 of the MBAs granted go to women, shouldn’t the number of women in the C-suite look more like 33%?  Yes, it should but it doesn’t.  A reason could be that women are still the main caretakers, homemakers, child-rearers.  Full time working mothers bring nearly 50% of the household income while doing 90% of the household work. Women still feel they need to mirror some level of June Cleaver-esq domesticity.  This need to do it all could stem from

the guilt women feel from not being able to manage a house like their mothers did or the generations before them.  This guilt manifests itself in a need to try to balance it all.  How does that play out?  It plays out by women choosing home responsibilities over professional growth.

In order for things to truly be equal women need to shift gears and ask for spousal/partner help at home.  As Sheryl Sandberg stated in her now famous Barnard commencement speech, “A world where women ran 50% of businesses and men ran 50% of houses would be a much better world.”  This idealized world Sandberg describes would allow mothers to embrace professional growth and fathers to better connect with their children.

I have to admit to being fortunate in having a husband who has an equal tolerance for mess and takes on the nightly dishes duty after I make dinner (which I actually enjoy).  Now if I could only do my part in striving for equality and be better about taking the trash out!

About the author: Maggie Tomas works at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota as Associate Director and Career Coach in the Graduate Business Career Services office. Her background includes teaching and career counseling at the college level, namely at the University of St. Thomas, University of California Santa Barbara, and  Brooks Institute, where she served as Director of Career and Student Services.  She is a contributing writer to several blogs and publications including Opus Magnum, Women of HR and Job Dig.