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Not long ago, someone who studies such things proposed that major corporations formally establish two career ladders for women.
The customary corporate climb would remain in place, of
course. But there would be a new route, the Mommy
Track,
designed for women who might desire something in
their lives besides increasing the profits and market share
for the benefit of distant investors who will dump the
stock the moment they hear a disturbing rumor.
Not as much would be expected of these women -- no 90-hour weeks, fewer disruptive transcontinental transfers, limited living out of suitcases. However, they would not reap the rewards of power and big money that presumably result from devoting your life to the company.
At first, the two-track concept sounded bizarre, since there are so many routes to prominence. Get on the Sherry Herrington Track, for instance, and you can flout the ethical standards you impose on your subordinates. When the prosecutors start to close in, you can be across a state line. The governor will then recommend that your violations be ignored.
There's the Mary Cunningham Track, wherein you have an affair with the boss even as you deny that there's any romantic involvement in your sudden rise to the corporate stratosphere. Or the Donna Rice Track, wherein you profit by your notoriety while simultaneously complaining about your lack of privacy.
The most challenging might be the Single Mother Track. All possible employment is at dead-end minimum-wage jobs with no medical benefits, so that your children were better off when you were on welfare and could get Medicaid. On welfare, though, your every act is observed by various snoops employed by the state, and you have no dignity or privacy. Not only is this track daunting, it's nearly impossible to escape.
But the real issue is not the career paths of working
women; it's what's important. It is possible, although it
is not recorded that this has ever happened, that someone
on his deathbed sighed, Oh, I just wish I had devoted
more time to my career, and hadn't wasted all that time
with my friends and family.
Succeeding at anything requires an absolute and manic
dedication, and corporate life is no exception. Staying on
the fast track,
whether you're male or female, means
you won't have room for much else in your life. Companies
seem to demand absolute loyalty. (Just how much loyalty
they offer to you, in these days of mergers, downsizing,
restructuring and takeovers, is another matter.)
I first noticed this in my days as a newspaper editor. The chamber of commerce was doing something one night that our chamber-minded publisher thought was newsworthy. He had other commitments that evening, though, so he wandered into the newsroom, looking for someone to cover the chamber's pseudo-event.
One reporter had to attend a school board meeting, and
the other (this was a small paper) had already scheduled
several interviews for a feature. The frustrated publisher
turned to me, his voice dripping with sarcasm. And I
suppose you'd rather be home with your family, Ed?
For some reason, it took all the courage I could summon
before I could turn to the owner and mumble, Well, yes,
I would.
If it was that hard to say that one has other priorities in an environment where there were negligible rewards for serving the owner's desires for profits and enhanced standing in the ruling segment of the community, then I hate to imagine the pressures that come where dedicated corporate performance might actually result in a promotion or pay raise.
Not all of us were built for the Fast Track,
which should be called the Faust Track.
In exchange
for whatever makes you human -- spending time with your
family, pursuing your hobbies, doing things with your
friends -- Mephistopheles International Corp. will give you
some power and money for a few years.
That might be an acceptable deal for some people, but
perhaps the Mommy track
concept will catch on, so
that sensible people can put in an honest day's work for an
honest day's pay, and leave it at that. I just hope they
don't limit it to mommies.
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