What Women Really Want

Before Women’s History Month comes to a close, I thought it might be nice to link to some recent articles of interest to working women. Enjoy.

FeministLawProf Bridget Crawford links to the latest issue of the New York State Bar Association’s online magazine, The Complete Lawyer, which devotes a lot of space to “What Do Women Lawyers Really Want?” Crawford’s response — What Women Lawyers Want Is for You to Stop Asking What We Want — is spot on, by the way. She writes:

Is what women want really such a mystery? I don’t think so.

Women want family leave and flexible schedules. We also want partners or family members who can help pick the kids up from school, do the laundry, pay the bills, plan the vacation, buy the birthday presents, get the car fixed, buy groceries, call the school back, and find a nursing home for mom – all on the way to a meeting for which we are late.

We know what women want. The better article is about why we are not getting it. So I’d love to see the New York State Bar Association feature an article on ”Why the Legal Profession Hasn’t Changed Much Yet (and May Not Be the Big Problem).”

FemaleScienceProfessor wonders why some successful female academics would make it harder for their younger female colleagues to get ahead. “Do successful women have a responsibility to help other women succeed?,” she asks. Do you think women hold other women to higher standards than men do? Discuss.

Thanks to the folks at Philanthropy Today for calling attention to a recent article in The New York Times about one corner of the financial world where female managers are getting ahead.

According to an article in Science Careers, many female scientists in Europe are still hitting their heads against the academic glass ceiling. The reporter, Chelsea Wald, cites a 2006 study by the European Commission, which found that “women in Europe earn about 43 percent of doctoral degrees in science, but hold only 15 percent of senior academic positions.” Some programs, she writes, are trying to change that.