Earlier comments have covered many of the topics that may lead to gender disparities of income and career fulfillment. The questions woman must ask themselves early on in their career,"Are they willing to sacrifice time, i.e. having family, raising family, in order to climb the career ladder: less than 40 hour work week vs. 60+ hour work weeks (no family commitments in the latter). Due to this decreased time investment, career development may stall. Projects with increasing corporate responsibilities will unlikely fall to the <40 hr work week employee, male or female.These same projects often have time constraints/short execution dates. Therefore, achieving senior level management is less likely. Remember, women with parental responsibilities have to compete against male/female counterparts who may not have these same responsibilities. I do not disagree that there can be legitimate barriers.Women have to be honest: need partner/other who will shoulder family responsibilities equitably.