Sticky Floor Discussion

In continuing with my last post, I would like to tell a story that one of my professors talked about. This relates to how it is possible that although women believe that at times they are being discriminated against, leadership takes hard work and dedication. Some women do not have this power, but one women did, but she had to give everything else up.

There was a grad student in the professors class. The first day of class, they went around the room saying their names, what they were studying, and what they wanted to do. When they reached one woman's turn, she said her name, what she was studying, and that she wanted to some day be the CEO of Caterpillar. Now, the other student's responses were much less than this, so of course, the professor asked her some questions about how she would manage. A few years later she came back with a response for him. She was now the CEO of the company and was married. Her husband had wanted to have a child, but she was right where she wanted to be with her career and only agreed to having the child if the husband took over the parenting. Turns out, she was gone in the morning before the child woke up, home after he was sleeping, and she basically did not exist to him.

Now, many women would be in awe over the attitude this woman carried, and the fact that she had carried this child for 9 months, birthed him, and now left the responsibilities to the father because she didn't want a child. She broke the glass ceiling, but gave up a lot along the way.

I believe that the idea of the sticky floor has a lot to do with women wanted to settle down, get married, and have a family that she will actually have time to spend with them.

What would you rather do, be a mom and have a mediocre career, or be married to your career and maintain the focus only on that career?