We periodically recommend readings on topics that are important to us, to our partners, and to our clients. We write at length about these and related issues elsewhere: here we’re interested in giving a broad sense of some of the smartest thinking we’ve found. Please let us know in the comments if there’s something you’d recommend on the same topic.
What Happened to Working Women Gail Collins, The New York Times
Collins writes about the decline of women in the workforce in the US and the role that childcare cost play in this decline.
Working Women: Why American women are better off than the lean-inners and have-it-allers realize Kay Hymowitz, Foreign Policy
Hymowitz explores the current state of the workforce for women in the US as compared to other countries and responds to common thoughts about the reasons behind women’s struggles to find work-life balance.
Gender equality: Taking stock of where we are: Why are women still underrepresented at every level of today’s corporations? Dominic Barton, Sandrine Devillard, and Judith Hazlewood, McKinsey Quarterly
The authors explore the reasons behind the persistence of the gender gap among top executives and what needs to happen to close the gap.
Why You Shouldn’t Pursue Work-Life Balance. The quest for work-life balance is leading too many people to burnout. Here’s what you should pursue instead Shawn Murphy, Inc.
Murphy challenges the idea that we need a work-life balance and instead proposes a need for work-life integration, calling attention to the potential positive impact of work-life integration on our overall well-being.
If You Spend a Year Interviewing Women about How They Balanced, What Would You Learn? Susie Orman Schnall, Fortune
Orman Schall reports on her findings from a year-long study where she interviewed women (and one man) to find out what they do to balance their lives.
Women in the Workplace: A Research Roundup Harvard Business Review Staff, Harvard Business Review
This article summarizes a variety of research by business, psychology, and sociology scholars to offer a window into women’s collective experiences at work.
Women Rising: The Unseen Barriers Hermina Ibarra, Robin J. Ely, and Deborah M. Kolb, Harvard Business Review
“Even when CEOs make gender diversity a priority—by setting aspirational goals for the proportion of women in leadership roles… they are often frustrated by a lack of results.” This article explores three actions companies can take to improve the current state of gender equality in the workplace.
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