There is a limited understanding of how women’s leadership associations can support seasoned female leaders and female knowledge workers to successfully negotiate alternative career-path changes. Seasoned female leaders are defined as those in either the

CHAPTER 1 : Female Leadership association study

Women throughout the United States , as well as across the world , have been fighting an uphill battle for recognition of their unique skills in the workplace . By the end of the 20th century , men and women still showed differences in the types of jobs they held . For example , in 2000 the top occupations for men included drivers / sales workers and truck drivers first-line supervisors / managers of retail sales workers retail salespersons laborers and freight , stock , and material movers carpenters and janitors and building cleaners (US Bureau

of labor statistics , 2001 . It was also found that , For women , the top occupations included secretaries and administrative assistants elementary and middle school teachers registered nurses cashiers and retail salespersons

For the last 50 years , a movement has been underway to improve the conditions under which women work , and to improve the opportunities for women to advance up the management ladder . To that end , many Female Leadership Associations have been founded , with the intention of providing resources formerly unavailable to women . The intention is to level the playing field for women in a male-dominated environment paving the way for an increase in women leaders in our society . As the number of women in leadership positions has increased , so too has the desire by these women to define career paths on their own terms Woefully absent seems to be the resources necessary for women to make these major career changes

Background of the Problem

Throughout time , girls have been raised to believe that women should ' perform different work than men . Women have been taught to be workers in specific fields , and definitely not leaders . 50 percent of men in 1966 majored in either science . engineering , or business management . Most of the women 's concentrations [were] education and literature . whereas those of the men [were] engineering , and business management (Goldin , 2005 . Gender stereotypes reflect men as being directive and task-focused , and using self-promotion . Gender stereotypes reflect women as being communal and relationship-centered Female norms focus on showing concern for others and on being helpful (Bem , 2004 Lipps , 2006 . According to Goldin (2006 , social changes technological advances , and economic opportunities have given women the option of working continuously rather than periodically , electing to adopt a professional identity , not just limited to a familial identity and making autonomous decisions about working outside the home

During a , now infamous , speech at Harvard University (Dillon , 2005 president Dr . Lawrence H . Summers stated that few married women with children are willing to accept sacrifices such as working an 80-hour week as experienced by top positions on university math and engineering faculties , top lawyers , bankers and business executives ' He also stated that more high school boys than girls tend to score at very high and very low levels on standardized math tests , and that it was important to consider the possibility that such differences may stem from biological differences between the sexes (Dillon , 2005

Evidence shows that this is not true . In 2003 , there were 1...