Vault.com's most recent survey of nearly 17,000 law associates found that women's satisfaction "lagged behind their male counterparts... Just as worrisome... for men, satisfaction rises quite a bit throughout the sixth and seventh years, while women remain stagnant at their fifth-year low point... why is it happening? First, many female associates feel that it is impossible to have a family and make partner... The male partners almost all have children."
There are two, obvious, reasons for this gender imbalance.
First, people who have children will often find that they far prefer to spend time with their children than their clients. Acting on that natural preference is far more socially acceptable -- and therefore viable -- for women than men. This naturally leads to greater dissatisfaction among women with children who find themselves compelled purely by economics to work. And it leads to women blessed with economic flexibility to prioritize family above the demands of big-law partnership.
Second, male associates are more willing (and able) to find spouses satisfied with the inequitable division of domestic labor that big-law partnerships demand. A male associate with children whose spouse demands an equitable division of domestic labor will face some of the same obstacles to partnership as his female colleagues. While there may be cultural influences directing ambitious men towards spouses that, practically, support their ambition, the reverse is likely true of ambitious women.
In other words, if, within our culture, the purpose of marriage was "refocused", away from "the emotional needs and desires of... adult couples" and to "the raising of children", talented and ambitious female law associates might have a much easier time finding spouses willing to assume an inequitable division of domestic labor, and so not have to make the choice between work and family, and find themselves far more satisfied than they are today.
