I am very tempted to delve deeper into the men-versus-women career-myth hypothesis I've crafted, but it touches on emotional and behavioral issues.
So maybe I should refrain here, just in case I ruffle some feathers. Or at least, till I am in a more foul or emotional mood.
...
What the heck. This is the Fatmama blog.
Moreover, I could probably not be in a more foul mood than I am now.
So men get married to get promoted. Because the conventional view is that men portray a (sometimes misleading) image of stability and trust when they flaunt a wedding band.
Let's see. It is all very logical, very natural if you were to try understanding your male friends around you.
Men don't usually rise to boss-hood in their twenties. Which pretty much coincides with their behavioral stage where they just want to play. (At this point, I do note that the few men who do rise to boss-hood in their twenties are usually nerds who have no life.)
So one fine day, usually taking place some time in their thirties, men decide they are done with their frivolous lives and they ought to start working hard at their jobs because they decide they have squandered away too much of their moolah and it is time to earn it all back at an accelerated rate. But men being men, they do feel the need for some companionship, maybe just more constant this time round. So how about getting a wife too?
The rate of getting a wife seems definitely faster than the rate of getting a promotion, because you only need to compare the number of 'nice girls' out there versus the number of bosses you can have in a company.
So men start slogging long-er hours at work and stop spending time at the bars, sufficiently motivated by the soothing companionship of a loving woman at the end of the day. Women, simply impressed by the hardworking men they have snagged, surely cannot resist the allure of a marriage proposal.
Bam! Men get married. Give them some time, and a letter and a pay rise come along the way.
It all pans out well for men. And it doesn't hurt much too. After all, they will always have secretaries and pretty girl colleagues in short tight skirts to ogle at.
Women, on the other hand, get promoted when they are single, and may usually stay that way for a long while.
Blame it on television. Blame in on the culture of feminism. Blame it on girl power. Blame it on the newfound independence and freedom. Whatever. But there are largely two kinds of women in existence these days: women who only yearn to find love and get married to the One, and women who believe in achieving success in what they want and like to do.
Of course, it doesn't have to be a compromise, but I have to stop believing in fairy tales.
Women who get married and enjoy a better work-life balance in their twenties tend to find tough competition against their single girlfriends who decide that if love eludes them, they would spend all their time and efforts at work instead.
It's a vicious circle. When the babies come, it spells bigger trouble in the ladder-climbing, even after the tummy is long gone.
Women who decide that they have no better luck in the love department than in the work department and therefore decide to throw their youth into Excel spreadsheets end up getting booted out of the love department altogether eventually.
Bosses love women workers, not so much for the short skirts they wear sometimes, but because women workers can be a crazy bunch of workaholics. What depression underlying the drive and motivation usually escapes the notice of the bosses.
If Mrs X is always running home for dinner with the hubby, or if Mrs Y has possibly two more maternity leaves to apply for in the next three years, why not give the job to Miss Z who has no life but finishes her assignments by midnight everyday?
So Miss Z gets the job, works till three in the morning, turns old and haggard, and starts spending half her salary on SKIIs when she realizes she is in real deep shit at thirty-five. The toilet uncle in her office would not even take a second look at her.
I am so scaring myself now. =/
