Rising to the top of your industry is no accident. You have invested years of your life in education and training. You started at the top and worked hard for every promotion. Now, twenty years into your career, you are finally seeing the type of professional success you have always sought.
As positive as all of this feels, it may also lead to the end of your marriage. This is especially true for women. When looking at male chief executive officers (CEOs) who got promoted to their positions of authority, reports found that their divorce rates were not nearly as high as the skyrocketing rates for women who were equally promoted to CEO.
What are the reasons for this disparity? You have to consider that investing yourself so entirely in your career may mean taking time away from the family. If becoming CEO means working 80 hours a week, it can put stress on the family unit. But that would be true for both men and women. Why is it that women have higher divorce odds when the success is theirs?
Some of it comes down to the rather traditional mindset that men are supposed to have successful careers and women are supposed to be more devoted to the family. As one expert put it, the general population still views it as rather unusual when a man becomes the “main supportive spouse” of his wife’s career.
With the rise in gender equality in the workforce, this is certainly an outdated idea that many would likely deny holding, but the statistics show that it does persist. If you have success and your spouse files for divorce as a result, make sure you know what legal steps to take.
