McKinsey Leadership Study; Traditional Views Earn Men More

McKinsey Studies

McKinsey recently released two related reports:

• Centered Leadership: How Talented Women Thrive

• The Business Case for Women

You're asked to register in order to view the reports - note that there is a link on the right (under "Tools") to download a copy in PDF format.

Men With Traditional Views Earn More

You may have seen references to this research - it has been mentioned by a variety of media outlets. It's worth taking a look at the Journal of Applied Psychology article; the results are based on the a Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of more than 12,000 individuals who were 14-22 years of age in 1979 (making them 42-50 years of age now). It's an interesting discussion of gender role orientation (our beliefs about what the roles should be for men and women at home and at work) in light of Hillary Clinton's run at the Democratic presidential nomination and the reaction to Sarah Palin's nomination as the VP candidate for the Republicans.

Note: "traditional" gender role orientation was identified by positive responses to the following:

1. a woman's place is in the home, not the office or shop
2. a wife with a family has not time for outside employment
3. employment of wives leads to more juvenile delinquency
4. it is much better if the man is the achiever outside the home and the woman takes care of the home and family.
   
5. women are much happier if they stay at home and take care of children.

Another interesting result:

• over the period of time (25 years) covered by the study, women's pay increased an average of 120%, while men's increased 317% over the same period.