Samenvatting

This paper explores the recurring dilemma that women still face when having to choose between their professional and their personal lives and the role that men play in it. Starting a family is one of the main reasons why women in Europe and all over the world decide to reduce their working hours or leave the workplace altogether. Demanding schedules, low incomes, the impossibility to reach higher positions within a company and the lack of financial and institutional help, are often cited as reasons why women put a halt to their careers.
Even though progress has been made in the last few decades, women are less present in the workforce than their male counterparts. Different measures have been put into practice to tackle this issue: from policies at European level, to awareness campaigns carried out by non-profit organisations and even private initiatives started up by corporations with the purpose of keeping women in their jobs and facilitate the conciliation of their working and private lives.
However, there is an almost unexplored field that needs to be paid attention to: the role of men in helping women stay (and be promoted) in the labour market. While it is crucial that women are aware of the consequences of abandoning the workplace, men have a vital role in avoiding this from happening, which is surprisingly often obviated.
Men still hold most of the managerial and positions of power worldwide so only when they are made aware and get engaged in keeping and promoting women in the workplace, a true equal gender based society can be achieved.