Most debates about women and the workplace focus on "glass ceilings" - social or organizational norms or traditions that bar women from advancing in their careers. Female quotas in leadership positions are a way to open up these pathways for women, as are women in leadership positions who have boxed their way through to the top, and are door-openers for generations of women to come. Female corporate leaders or heads of state are no longer a strange sight in many countries or economic areas.
But my own theory is that glass ceilings are only half of the problem. The other half is the problem of "trap doors". Trap doors open up under your feet, and you fall to a level below. I used "snakes and ladders" in one of my first blog posts to exemplify what I mean: we may have ladders to climb, but we also have snakes to slide down.
I like the idea of "trap doors", because for women as naive as I am, and having only focused on "glass ceilings" for the first 30 years of my life, these "trap doors" come unexpected. They usually hit you with the birth of a child, but I am sure that there are other situations that can catch you off guard as well, and force you to fall back in your career (e.g. weak negotiation skills or elbowing skills or willingness in the case of many women).
The sad thing is that, the more you fall through these trap doors (and with three children and my poor skills at fighting for my rights, I've fallen several times), the less you start staring at your toes - and forget to reach for the stars, and to focus on breaking those glass ceilings. "I need to avoid falling" replaces "I need to fly high".
How do we motivate women like me, no longer in their early 20s, to reach higher, and remain true to their dreams? How do women like me find the energy to climb, again and again? I haven't yet found the energy, and I'm still stuck in resignation.
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