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             The U.S. Census data reveal an increase in stay-at-home moms who hold graduate or professional degrees, these are the very women who seemed destined to blast through the glass ceiling, yet 22 percent of them are home with their children (Wallis 2004). A study by Catalyst found that one in three women with M.B.A.s are not working full-time, compared to one in twenty of their male peers (Wallis 2004). Sylvia Ann Hewlett, economist and author at Columbia University in New York City, who sees a brain drain throughout the top 10 percent of America's labor force, says "What we have discovered in looking at this group over the last five years is that many women who have any kind of choice are opting out" (Wallis 2004). .

             According to a new study released in March 2006 by Accenture, a global management consulting company, women executives around the world still face an uphill battle in workplace equality, despite significant gains during the past ten years (Most 2006). The study, entitled "The Anatomy of the Glass Ceiling: Barriers to Women's Professional Advancement," is based on a survey of 1,200 male and female executives in eight countries (Most 2006). The respondents were asked to score factors they believed influenced their career success across three dimension: individual (career planning, competence, assertiveness, etc.), company (supportive supervisors, transparent promotion processes, etc.), and society (equal rights, government support of parental leave, etc.) (Most 2006).

             The differences between male and female respondents' answers were sued to calculate the current "thickness" of the glass ceiling, a term used to describe an unacknowledged barrier that prevents women and other minorities from achieving positions of power or responsibility in their professions (Most 2006). .

             According to the study, 30 percent of women executives and 43 percent of male executives believe that women have the same opportunities as men do in the workplace, thus supporting the existence of a glass ceiling (Most 2006).