What’s the price of gender imbalance in the workplace?

I’m researching a blog post that’s sparked by a conversation I had on Facebook yesterday.

The conversation went like this.

Me: “What’s your take on the way our industry (real estate) treats women?”

Friend: “Just looking at it from [my company’s point of view], all the people in our top ten are all men and it always makes me wonder why. Adding to that the only women doing well are the ones with older kids or no kids.

There’s absolutely no support [for women] like me that have [young] kids… To make it I need to help to be able to go to…[appointments] where as if I was a man, I would simply leave my wife at home which is considered normal.”

That got me thinking so I phoned another friend, this time a mum with 2 boys and a supportive husband. The story was the same. In this case I could hear the frayed nerves as she told me about juggling a high performance career and running a household of four.

It struck me that something was about to break.

Yet despite the extra obstacles these women face – and overcome – they’re largely unheralded in the real estate industry (and I’d venture to say many others, too).

I suspect that industry conveniently turns a blind eye, or worse still addresses the issue with something bordering on passive aggression.

So I’m on a mission to find out what’s going on here. What are the facts? What’s at stake. I want to know the cost of idolising high monetary performers and overlooking the contribution made by those who choose to make raising a family their priority.

How you can help.

I’m looking for any thought provoking articles or research (such as this) that could help illuminate this issue. If you know of any, please leave a link in the comments below.