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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 having 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 kölcsönhatása, https://www.demografia.hu/hu/letoltes/kiadvanyok/Szerepvaltozasok/192-206Pongracz.pdf (accessed 8 March 2020). 122 123 124 125 «49 «
