Recently I listened to an interesting talk discussing “glass ceilings”. In case you haven’t heard that expression, it refers to the difficulties women have to move ahead in the corporate or business world. I suppose the phrase was coined because officially there are no barriers for women to achieve whatever they desire. (at least in the western world) Hence the term glass ceiling – it is there but officially it does not exist, it is invisible.

One of the speakers had the opinion that the glass ceilings only exist in women’s heads, between our ears, rather than in the real world.

I strongly disagree with that opinion. Women have real practical issues to grapple with. The fact that we are the ones who have pregnancies, give birth and are the primary nurturers for our children disadvantages us in a big way. I have met so many women (and some men) who had to make some very painful choices between advancing their careers or being there for their children.

Your boss wants you to be available for late evening meetings, interstate travel, overseas travels – having time out because your child is sick or has some special occasion at school is generally considered a “problem”. If it were to happen too often you will get unmistakable messages that “this sort of thing” can’t go on.

With the economic climate the way it is, employers will tend to hire people who don’t “cause any fuss” and who are willing to put in crazy hours for virtually no extra pay. They will hire men or women who have “completed their families” and whose children are already old enough to be fairly self sufficient. There are very few really family friendly employers when it comes to the crunch. Policies are one thing – how they are implemented and applied is another!

The more technologically advanced our world is becoming the more human beings are expected to function like machines too. Fast, efficient, perfect results all the time, the least possible downtime and no feelings! Maybe with these characteristics it is easy to shatter the glass ceiling…..

There is no easy answer and I wish I had a magic solution. The only thing I can recommend is to follow your intuition, your gut feeling, do what feels right for you. Often this will not be what others expect of you, it will go against conventional wisdom and you might get all sorts of “advice” and unfavourable comments.

This is where personal strength and self confidence are needed. You need to do what is best for you and your children. Remember – time is the only commodity we can’t replace or generate more of. Once you “spend” it,  it’s gone forever. Once you missed that special occasion at school or at the sports grounds or the Mothers’ Day Concert – it is gone. Hopefully there will be many more to come, but it is not the same event and there are no guarantees in life!

Till next time
Connie and Charly
from

http://www.stretchyourmindandbody.com