Dive Brief:

• By focusing on “women’s issues,” professional firms are in denial about their real problem: a culture of unnecessary, 24/7 work that makes everyone miserable, according to a massive global consulting firm.
• Those are the findings of an exhaustive 18-month case study of one large global consulting firm, reported in a yet-to-be published paper from Harvard’s Gender Initiative program.
• The paper blasts away at two closely held gender stereotypes, writes author Emily Peck. One portrays mothers as more invested in family responsibilities than their work roles. Another assumes working fathers are fully committed breadwinners, free from the pull of family life.

Dive Insight:

HuffPo reports that the researchers found that these assumptions held women back in their careers, prevented men from finding more balance, and kept the firm from understanding that everyone struggles when working long hours—not just females. There’s a myth that “women can’t do it, but men can. That’s not true,” said Robin Ely, a co-author on the paper and a professor at Harvard Business School who chairs the Gender Initiative.

The paper also takes care to note that the issues faced by this firm are typical of higher-income, professional employees. For lower-wage workers, the problem usually isn’t too many hours, but rather the unpredictability of their schedules or the scramble to grab enough hours a week to make it to full time.

Still, these set stereotypes about men and women aren't limited to white-collar workers, Ely told HuffPo. “The gender expectation around work and family has been around since the Industrial Revolution. That’s the way it’s been.”