Study: 100 years before women reach equality in top jobs

Gender equality in Corporate America is happening so slowly that it could take more than a century for women to have the same number of top executive jobs as men, according to a new study.

The organizations behind the study, nonprofit LeanIn.org and management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, said women still face more barriers to advance up the corporate ladder. The women surveyed were three more times likely than men to say that they missed out on an assignment, promotion or raise because of their gender. The study collected research from 118 companies and surveyed nearly 30,000 employees.

Here’s a look at some of the results from the report released Wednesday:

Inequality at home

Women said they are doing more chores at home and taking care of children more than their partner or spouse is. In households where both partners work full time, 41 percent of women said they do more child care than their partners and 30 percent report doing more chores.

Networks are not diverse

One reason why women may be held back, according to the study, is that they are mostly networking with other women. Since men are more likely to hold top jobs, women are not networking with men who may be able to help them advance to bigger roles. The men surveyed said their professional networks were mostly made up of other men.

Unhappy at the top

Women in senior-level jobs were less satisfied with their careers than men. About 28 percent of senior-level women said they were very happy with their careers, compared with 40 percent of men.

Afraid to take time off

More than 90 percent of women and men said they believed that taking extended family leave would hurt their careers. And even though most companies offer flexibility and career-development programs, most employees do not participate, the study said. The only benefit workers were willing to take was telecommuting, the study said.

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