“The ceiling is about time. We call it the hour-glass ceiling. It’s not about merit in that sense, it’s whether you can put that time in and whether society allows you to do that or not. It is a profoundly more powerful barrier for a mother compared to a father.” – Dr Lyndall Strazdins, Australian National University

The Sydney Morning Herald “Executive Style” Magazine has published an article about the conversational transition from the “glass ceiling” of women being blocked from top jobs to the “hour glass ceiling” – where women are blocked by the time that it takes to get put the work in to get the top roles, and the time it takes to sustain them. Suzanne Bell, a partner from KPMG explains her view that the “glass ceiling is outdated and has negative connotations for women”, because it’s someone else holding us back, limiting our autonomy to achieve our career goals.

It’s a great article, packed full of quotes and discussions around the time challenges facing women, and how understanding these will help us to achieve.

“As women, we really need to understand that sometimes it’s not about the fact that it is men putting this glass ceiling over us, but that we create the glass ceiling. Our experience is that we advertise the role but we don’t get women applying because they read the skill set and they might have eight out of 10 of the skills and they don’t apply. Men will apply with six out of the 10 and get the job” – Larke Riemer , Westpac Women’s Market.

Click here to read the full article .