These women wanted to expand their families. They say the system won’t allow it.
Some women who would like to start a family choose not to do so due to financial constraints, lack of access to maternal health care, or other concerns.
Nancy Marzouk, who works in the technology industry, was used to being the only woman in the room. But that doesn’t mean she liked it.
“I always felt like I was over-performing, and I was potentially under more scrutiny than other people, if that makes sense,” said Marzouk, 52.
She attended art school, but after graduating from undergrad, she became interested in the advertising industry and fell in love with it. As she rose through the ranks at various marketing and technology agencies, she felt like she was always working harder than everyone around her but not moving up the ladder at the same pace.
“The company wasn’t going to change. Basically, I had to leave for it to change. That’s how I felt,” she said. “I felt like I got to a point in my career where it didn’t matter what I did. There were too many politics involved. So if you’re not part of the boys’ club… it didn’t matter what I did.”
Marzouk took a risk. She quit a stable corporate job and started her own startup called Mediawala, a data management company, in 2013. Marzouk currently earns between $600,000 and $800,000 annually, ranking her in the top 1% of earners in the country, according to SmartAsset.
According to a 2019 American Sociological Review study, only 5% of the top 1% of earners in the United States are women. Fellow top 1% woman and researcher Emily Riley recently surveyed 145 of these women to find out what it takes to become a top 1% woman. Another 180 women surveyed in the report had incomes of $300,000 or more, and about 170 other women surveyed had incomes between $100,000 and $300,000. The ranges vary slightly, but in Riley’s study, the top 1% of earners earn more than $775,000. The researchers found that in the top 1% of households, women are more likely to be the wives or partners of high-income men, but in the top 1% of households, women themselves are rarely the sole breadwinners.
“What I realized mid-career when I started having kids and wanted more flexibility was that I didn’t really have the tools to negotiate in a way that made me feel in control,” said Riley, 48. “I always felt like I was a step behind and was missing out on something, and even though I continued to have some success, it became clear that there weren’t that many women above me who were paving the way for me.”
Riley also took a risk after deciding to have her third child. She wanted more flexibility as a working mother, so she became a technology consultant. Like Marzouk, she realized that being her own boss actually increased her and her family’s income. Her annual income is said to be just under $1 million.
Most conversations about women in the workforce focus on challenges and hurdles, Riley said. She thought about how, as a young working woman, she always wanted a roadmap to success. So she gathered together successful women in her network, women’s groups, and across LinkedIn to conduct her own research.
“I was overwhelmed by the positive feedback,” she said. “It really hit a nerve that other career women agreed with me. You know, this is something we can all enjoy. Instead of just feeling frustrated, frustrated, challenged, we can actually do something about it and I’m really excited to listen to each other and learn from each other.”
Women in the top 1% of income earners are more likely to be married and have at least two children.
Riley’s research found that the top 1% of women share three traits: drive, career management, and a desire to learn and grow.
She predicted that women in the top 1% would be fiercely competitive, and that’s true, with 44% of women in the 1% saying they’re competitive, compared to 25% of women in the $100,000 to $300,000 bracket. But she also found that the 1% of women were less submissive and more “in their own way.” One in five women in the 1% are more likely to “go with the flow,” compared to one in three women in low-income households.
Research shows that most women in the top 1% of income earners are married and have children. These women are typically the main breadwinners in their households, but 89% are married and 71% have two or more children.
Marzouk has two boys. Although her husband works, she has been the family’s main breadwinner for some time now. Marzouk said that early in her career, she felt she had to go “above and beyond” at work and that “otherwise it would prevent me from climbing the career ladder.” She credited her success to her partner who supported and encouraged her to pursue her dreams and goals.
Marzouk said that although things have improved for working mothers in recent years, she still feels she missed out on a lot when her children were young. Riley said she heard a lot about guilt from the women she interviewed for this study.
“You can’t really have it all, but you can live a fulfilling life,” Riley said. “That’s when you have a lot to do. Of course, you can’t be everywhere at the same time. You’ll be missing the weekday holiday party at your child’s school, but you’ll be attending the recital on Saturday night, right?”
“What would you do if you were a man?”
There aren’t many women who are CEOs in the technology industry, and even fewer founders, Marzouk said. She gets excited when she hears about women starting their own companies in advertising and technology and wants to help them. As a woman, it’s difficult to raise capital funding, she says.
“Women are very practical. They think about things realistically,” she says. But making financial projections realistic doesn’t excite potential funders, who are mostly men. “People only want to invest in pipe dreams.”
Her advice? Think like a man, Marzouk says.
“What would a man do? What would my husband do if he found himself in this situation?” she said. “And I actually do the opposite of my instincts because I know who my audience is.”
Marzouk said many women are stuck in “mid-career” roles. Women sometimes need to think about what they want to achieve and the best way to get there, she said, and that might mean stepping out of their comfort zone.
Once you break through the glass ceiling, “you can do anything you want,” Marzouk said.
Madeline Mitchell’s role covering women and the care economy for USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
Contact Madeline at: memitchell@usatoday.com and @maddiemitch_ With X.
