Women at the Top (eBook)

Diane F. Halpern is a past-president of the American Psychological Association, as well as Professor of Psychology and Director of the Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children at Claremont McKenna College. Diane has published over 350 articles and many books including, Thought and Knowledge: An Introduction to Critical Thinking (4th ed.); Sex Differences in Cognitive Abilities (3rd ed.), a special two-volume edited issue of the American Behavioral Scientist entitled Changes at the Intersection of Work and Family (edited with Heidi R. Riggio, 2006) and From Work-Family Balance to Work-Family Interaction: Changing the Metaphor (edited with Susan Murphy, 2005). Fanny M. Cheung pioneered the field of gender and women's studies in Hong Kong by founding the Gender Research Centre at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1985, and is its current Director. From 1996-1999, she took leave from the University to serve as the founding Chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission, a statutory body that implements the discrimination legislation in Hong Kong. She has served as a Delegate to the National Congress of Women in the People's Republic of China for the past 11 years, and a member of the Women's Commission of the Hong Kong SAR Government from 2001 to 2006. Cheung is currently Professor of Psychology and Chairperson of the Department of Psychology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Preface vi

Chapter 1 For Women at the Top: How's the Weather up
There? 1

Chapter 2 Learning from Mothers, Mentors, and Others 21

Chapter 3 Saving and Spending Time 47

Chapter 4 Happy Homemaker, Happy Marriage: The Female Executive
Edition 73

Chapter 5 Cherished Children: Tales of Guilt and Pride 106

Chapter 6 Work-Family Spillover: From Conflict to Harmony
131

Chapter 7 Culture Counts: Leading as the World Changes 154

Chapter 8 Leading as Women: Styles, Obstacles, and Perceptions
183

Chapter 9 How to Lead a Dually Successful Life 208

References 231

Appendix: Biography of the Women Leaders 246

Index 278

"Psychologists Diane Halpern and Fanny Cheung focus on one particular obstacle to women's advancement: the difficulty for women of combining a career with family.The interviews serve to illustrate various themes covered in the book, such as learning from role models, managing time, maintaining relationships with husbands and children,addressing conflicts between career
and family, and developing effective methods of leading and wielding influence. The book's unique contribution lies with the stories of the women leaders and their varied strategies for combining career and family. Readers will likely feel inspired by the womens' successes ... .Although Women at the Top is not an advice book, it does contain a chapter that gives recommendations to women who aspire to be leaders while also having a family ... .A number of the book's recommendations ... have received strong empirical support ... .The book provides a nice balance of first-person accounts and summaries of up-to-date scholarly research from a variety of disciplines. It is written in an accessible style, conveying scientific findings in a engaging and easy to understand format that should appeal to a wide audience ... .Because the book is highly interdisciplinary, it could also be used as a supplemental text in graduate and undergraduate courses in management and organizational behavior, psychology and sociology of work or gender, and family studies. I can imagine that it would generate much discussion among students who believe that career-oriented women no longer have obstacles to overcome and that combining career and family is easy." (Sex Roles, February 2010)

"Halpern and Cheung conduct a cross-cultural analysis of the work-life dichotomy in order to illuminate social and cultural expectations for women, to compare policy and personal solutions, and ultimately to propose a strategic plan for navigating work-life demands." (Journal of International Women's Studies, May 2009)

"There is much here for women looking to energise their professional and home life, renew their perspectives and optimise their competencies as leaders and managers." (Psychologist, April 2009)