Anticipated career sacrifice leads women to hesitate in committing to serious work

Evidence

The nature of her eroticism and the difficulties of a free sexual life push the woman toward monogamy. Nonetheless, a liaison or marriage is far less easily reconciled with a career for her than for the man. The lover or husband may ask her to give up her career: she hesitates, like Colette’s Vagabond who ardently wishes to have a man’s warmth at her side but who dreads the conjugal shackles; if she gives in, she is once again a vassal; if she refuses, she condemns herself to a withering solitude. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1932 (#expands, via linked claim)

Although women make up 46 percent of the workforce, they are underrepresented in positions of power and prestige (Eagly & Diekman, ch. 2 this volume). Gender prejudice helps to perpetuate this fact, as backlash research makes clear. However, women’s own choices (i.e., self-selection bias) may also be an important factor. Compared with men, women tend to shy away from positions that carry the highest rewards, both social and economic (Pratto, Stallworth, Sidanius, & Siers, 1997). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 767 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Marriage and career are structurally harder to combine for women than for men — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1932; Women self-select away from the highest-reward positions, sustaining gender hegemony — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 767

Broader Connections

• Marriage and career are structurally harder to combine for women than for men #expands (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1932
• Women self-select away from the highest-reward positions, sustaining gender hegemony #expands (0.72) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 767