Elaine’s post yesterday about the perceived “Glass Ceiling” struck a chord with me.  So much so, that instead of merely commenting, I decided to continue to debate this issue.  Many of these studies are too black and white – women finally break through the glass ceiling – and then give up on it.  I remember distinctly the huge debate set off in the 1990s, when Brenda Barnes, an accomplished executive who achieved the Presidency at Pepsi-Cola, decided not too long after her appointment to give it up and stay home with her children.  I think the realization that her children were growing quickly, and that she had already missed too many momentous occasions overwhelmed her – and it was finally her turn to take a step back for a while and enjoy her family.  She took this path for a time, but returned to the corporate world and now leads the Sara Lee Corporation.  Some of the press was scathing at the time, and a signal of great distress to the women’s movement.

To me, women are lucky.  There are so many different roles out there that we can assume – and many roles which we assume simultaneously – our playing field is much more open than that of our male counterparts.  We play the full gamut – something that men don’t do as well.  We respect each other and the choices we make – whether that is staying home with our children, pursuing a demanding career, or just finding the best job we can to make ends meet or to try to achieve that sometimes elusive balance in our lives.  However, we tend to be hard on ourselves – always questioning our decisions and the paths that we have taken.  I’m sure we’re always thinking… “what if I had done this, instead of that.”  Well, I guess the beauty of life is that we’re allowed to change our minds, and if the path we’re currently travelling isn’t getting us anywhere, it’s time to mix things up a bit.  We’re all on a journey with twists and turns – and we’ll take some wrong turns along the way – but there are lessons to be learned and experiences to be gained along this detour as well.  

A few months ago I read a book by Mary Lou Quinlan, a one time big time Madison Avenue Ad Executive. The Book?  Time Off for Good Behavior:  How Hardworking Women Can Take A Break and Change Their Lives.  My blog partner, Elaine, and I had seen her speak at a conference last fall (and by the way, a conference called the Reinvention Convention that inspired the birth of this blog).  Anyhow, the book is full of stories of mostly hard charging women executives who finally hit a brick wall and need to decompress and change.  Many times we think these changes are brought on by the needs of our families, the guilty feelings that we’re harboring for not being able to spend enough time with our children, but it was refreshing to read about those women who were single who decided that it was time for them to start enjoying life and took major steps (geographic relocations, and total career changes) to facilitate this change.  Many just took time off.  Many switched to non profit careers.  Whatever the change was, the important thing is that these women recognized the need for change, and did something about it.  

While not expressed explicitly, I also think there is something about being in your forties that makes you stop and reflect – you have another half of your live to live.  It is finally a time to rediscover who you are, what makes you tick, and rekindle those old aspirations you may have once had that were put aside for whatever reason.   

So for all those researchers that state that women are losing once well gained ground on the corporate track, I say it’s a woman’s perogative. Women have earned more bachelor’s degrees than men since 1982 and they have been earning more master’s degrees than men since 1981.  They earned 58% of all postsecondary degrees conferred in 2007.  There is no shortage of options for us, and if we want to achieve something, we just have to put our mind to it.  The choices we make for ourselves are bound to evolve over time – the most important thing to do is avoid complacency.