We can do whatever we set our mind to. And I don’t see why a husband can’t chip in either.

I know one woman who made it to VP of a major division of an international corporation while somehow maintaining a sense of balance and perspective, raising a family, and nurturing a long and happy marriage.

But most high executives I’ve known, both men and women, tend to sacrifice balance to ambition.

The implicit sexism is in the assumption that the family responsibilities will fall primarily on the mother–and that’s not exclusively a male view.

When my youngest was little, the boss (a woman, and the best boss I ever had) called me into her cubicle to “counsel” me about taking time off to be with my son when he was home sick from schoool. She asked me what was going on.

I said to her, “Well, [wife] and I talked about it and she wanted to know why she should always be the once to miss work when [son] was sick.”

Boss looked at me for a moment, then said, “You’re right. Get out of here.”

Men too have choices about how they organize their lives as it relates to career ambitions and raising a family. Fulfilling a role as husband and/or father requires more than cashing a paycheck and putting food on the table and a roof overhead.

Too often these ‘experts’ are busy telling women about the ‘real world’ yet little scrutiny is given to their own lives away from the board room.