“Women tend to gravitate to positions that pay less but offer more flexibility, where men tend to choose positions that are less flexible and better compensated” I actually have to agree with that.
My sister always aimed for a high powered, high money career, and she got one, at Boeing. Her job required extensive traveling, even when the kids were little. But she’s not the usual, I don’t think.
Her husband got a degree in education so he could support her ambitions.
I was just the opposite. I got a degree in education, so it would keep me on the same schedule as my kids.
One thing led to another, and I never did land a teaching position. At one point I was actually offered a job at Koch industries, in their legal department, and man, I would have loved, LOVED that! But….it meant a 100 mile commute round trip, every day, and who knows how much over time. My kids were not quite old enough to look after themselves, and after they DID get old enough to look after themselves I felt it was important to be available and present. I didn’t have the back up to support that, even though that’s what I really wanted to do.
So…I turned it down.