Work-life balance myth: Why you need to find resources outside of the workplace.

The much-accepted work-family conflict used to explain why too few women are in higher positions in an organization has been shown in research to be false (Ely & Padavic, 2020, para. 4). Men, too, are challenged with balancing work demands and their desire to spend more time with their families. Saying that work-life balance is why few women are not in higher positions in an organization doesn’t make it so.

What then is the explanation? According to the study done by the Harvard Business Review (HBR), women seem to be encouraged more often than men to take more internal-facing positions within an organization when faced with the demands of family and career. This mean’s taking supportive roles, which have less advancement opportunities.

When faced with the competing demands of work and family, the options given to women usually restrict career development and growth (Ely & Padavic, 2020). You may be a great worker, but when occupying an administrative position you are not seen as equally qualified or intelligent.

Also, if you are not generating revenue during economic or financial downturns, you may be on the receiving end of a pink slip. Since career development and leadership roles come from working with clients, developing business opportunities, and meeting and solving any challenges along the way it’s important to understand that there are few learning and development opportunities when sitting at a desk, ordering lunch, or reviewing emails and letters from your boss.

The HBR study also found that there were other work practices that create challenges for both men and women-such as employers expecting you to be available to them or the client 24/7. Since all employees’ face sacrificing family or work, an important place to start is to ask the questions such as: What does success look like to me? Do I really want a balanced and happy life? And am I willing to do the things I will need to do to develop and maintain that lifestyle?

There are many things women can do to improve their career opportunities. Nurturing the nurturer should be the highest priority, since if we don't care for ourselves first, we can't care for any one else. Self-care is an important element to having a vibrant fulfilling career and family lifestyle. One way of doing that would be to find ways outside of the organization to address the demands of your family and your own personal needs. This would then provide you the freedom to pursue a career and developmental goals while not compromising your personal lifestyle.

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