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WOMEN IN TOP LEADERSHIP POSITIONS
university professors working in a committee that evaluated applications — whomen
as well as men — consistently overrated applications that had a man’s name on them,
compared to those applications which had a woman’s name. As the researchers
conclude, [...] it is not about conscious misogyny, probably not even conscious
discrimination, but the resulting effect of the stereotypes that society has about
women’s roles. In other words, it is about the cultural subconscious that is affected
by the hidden curricula of our socialisation. However, from this aspect, it might be
less unambiguous to declare that scientific career and advancement would be solely
based on the principles of meritocracy.’
At the same time, we should not forget that in the social context, gender is
not the only cause of discrimination, but there are several other factors which
together shape prejudices. For example, physical competence, gender differences
in communication, non-verbal communication and other stereotypes.’” But
it seems most of the cases the gender is the main basis of the discrimination
(note the ideal worker type).
For women, the most catastrophic obstacle in the labyrinth is the difficulty of
reconciling work and private life, which is always a double burden for women. This
is fundamentally based on the pressure of family responsibilities, ie. “women
continue to be the ones who interrupt their careers and start working part-time”
in the case of childbearing. As a result, they will consequently come to have less
work experience, which will significantly slow down their career progress and
reduce their earnings.!# This can be called the “maternity disadvantage”.
The concept of “maternity disadvantage” refers to inequalities (even among
women exclusively) affecting only those having childcare duties and thus hav¬
ing severe disadvantages, earning lower salaries or having a higher risk of
being discharged.
It is nevertheless true that there are solutions to this, “e.g. in the Nordic
countries, studied by Billing, part of the gender regime is that parents are
jointly responsible for childcare, so one parent cannot be considered to be
completely unencumbered”.’*4 We can see the same in the examples of certain
Western countries (e.g. France), where involving fathers in the early childhood
care of children not only allowed for lessening the burden on women but led
to a more positive societal climate as well.
However, as the previous study revealed, in many places, such as in the
United States (but also in Hungary), even those women who have shared their
221 Sellei, N.: Professzornök a Debreceni Egyetemen, Debreceni Szemle 2015/3, 261.
Burgess—Borgida: Who Women are, 670.
Eagly-Carli: Women and the Labyrinth.
Billing, quoted by Nagy: Szervezet és nemek, 65.
Pongrácz, T. — S. Molnár, E. (2011): Nemi szerepek és a közvélemény változásának kölcsön¬
hatása, https://www.demografia.hu/hu/letoltes/kiadvanyok/Szerepvaltozasok/192-206Pon¬
gracz.pdf (accessed 8 March 2020).
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