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I always get nervous whenever there seems to be too much cheery news about women. You just know that the other shoe will drop.

But hold that thought.

First, let's just bask in a moment of good news: "American women have just achieved a significant milestone: They hold more payroll jobs than men," reports The New York Times' Claire Cain Miller. In fact, women now represent 50.04% of payroll jobs, according to the Labor Department's jobs report. Moreover, large numbers of women are moving into professions dominated by men—which means that law is brimming with women.

Indeed, women in law are making noteworthy progress. Even in the stagnant world Big Law, women are making notable strides: In the last three years, women have accounted for 33% of new equity partners and 35% of new relationship partners for firms' top 30 clients, according to the National Association of Women Lawyers. While representing one-third or so of anything isn't exactly gender parity, believe me, it's a big deal in this sector, considering how long it took women to break into the 20% equity partner rate.

Recently, Law.com's Karen Sloan reported that editors-in-chief of the law review at the top 16 law schools were all women. And that means women are in place for those coveted U.S. Supreme Court clerkships. Before you know it, women will rule legal academia, government, law firms and corporations!

That was a teaser for the flipside: Men aren't doing so hot. While women are storming the higher end of the workforce, men at the lower end are losing jobs.

Yet, some of these men would rather be unemployed than take a traditional female job with growth opportunities, like health care or education. The reason: Men don't want the social stigma of working a woman's job. "That puts men at a disadvantage in today's economy—but it also ensures that the female-dominated jobs remain devalued and underpaid," reports the Times.

Though the Times article says the phenomenon is most noticeable in the blue-collar sector, I think this gendered attitude extends to all classes. (Quick survey: How many of you think male lawyers are more secure in their masculinity than male plumbers?)

And, as we know, the notion of "woman's work" is even more pronounced at home. Study after study show that when push comes to shove, male and female professionals default to traditional roles in their private lives. According to an American Bar Association and ALM Legal Intelligence survey of 1,300 lawyers at the nation's 350 largest firms, women still bear most home responsibilities. LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Co. also finds that senior female managers are seven times more likely than men to perform home duties. And the Harvard Business Review reports that female CEOs expect little support—either at work or at home—for their careers.

What all this means is that no matter how many women are leading prestigious law reviews and entering Big Law, eventually they'll face the burden of responsibilities on the home front—and that hurdle isn't going away. So while there's now progress in the female equity partner ranks, I'm not expecting a surge.

Even among the enlightened legal set, most female lawyers will tell you they have limited success at getting their husbands to do their equal share at home. As for men taking a back seat or being the stay-at-home spouse to support women's careers? Dream on. How many red-blooded guys would want a girly-girl job?