New Research on Working Parenthood: Men Are More Egalitarian, Women are More Realistic

Here is an excerpt from another brilliant article written by Stewart Friedman for the Harvard Business Review blog. To read the complete article, check out the wealth of free resources, and sign up for a subscription to HBR email alerts, please click here.

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In the few days since Marissa Mayer’s baby arrived, I’ve watched the resurgence — again — of the debate about working parenthood, maternity leaves, and even “baby bumps.” I have mixed feelings about this.

Mayer’s situation is extremely unusual. A short maternity leave may be relatively easy for her, in part because she and her spouse have great wealth and because, as CEO, Mayer has considerable discretion about how to spend her time. This is not the case for most working women — or for most working men. And yet, that the board agreed to hire a pregnant Mayer as CEO was a sign of real progress in our collective grasp of what’s possible, for men and for women. The decisions made by Yahoo’s board and by Mayer signal something important to us all — greater freedom. This episode in our social history is but one highly visible example of the many new options available to people as they aim to pursue lives that fit with their most precious values. Mayer made her choice, and that she was able to do so is not just because of her financial wherewithal, it’s also because her choice is now socially and culturally legitimate. Even five years ago it would not have been.

We’re going to see more new possibilities, if my research on Wharton students (part of the Work/Life Integration Project) is any indication. In 1992 we surveyed over 450 Wharton students, at the moment they graduated. Then, this past May, we asked the same set of questions of the Wharton undergraduates in the Class of 2012. In part, the surveys explored attitudes about two-career relationships. We asked students to what extent they agreed with these two statements:

• Two-career relationships work best when one partner is more advanced than the other.

• Two-career relationships work best when one partner is less involved in his/her career.

In 1992, men were much more likely to agree with both these statements than were women. Our preliminary analyses show that in 2012, however, there is a convergence of attitudes about two-career relationships: Men are less likely to agree with those statements than they were 20 years ago, but women are now more likely to agree; both have changed. Compared to graduates 20 years ago, young men graduating today are more egalitarian in their views and women are less so, perhaps because they are more realistic.

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To read the complete article, please click here.

Stewart D. Friedman is Practice Professor of Management at the Wharton School. The former head of Ford Motor’s Leadership Development Center, he is the author of Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life. For more information aboyt Stew and his work, visit www.totalleadership.org. To check out his other HBR articles, please click here.

To read my interview of Stew, please click here.

To read my review of Total Leadership, please click here.

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