American International Journal of Social Science

Why Do Educated, Successful Women Leave The Workforce?
Patti Collett Miles

Abstract
In the last 30 years women have made considerable strides into the workplace. But when it comes to staying in the workforce beyond the 10-year point, the numbers tell a different story. Specifically a woman at the 10-year point is five times more likely to leave the workforce than her male counterpart. This has left organizations grappling for strategies to retain them. This study first looks at why women leave through the eyes of women who have left the workforce all together, or crafted professional jobs into non-traditional careers, then creates an empirical survey to look at alternate reasons women may leave. The results of this study seem to suggest women leave the workforce because they cannot balance home and work responsibilities. It further suggests that a dynamic flexible full time schedule may prove to be a magical retention force. It also finds women walk a delicate tight rope between acting too masculine and too feminine on the job. It also supports previous findings that women are motivated by intrinsic factors than by extrinsic.

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