Estelle Ramey was a funny and credible chief investigator on the similarities and differences between genders. Her wit was priceless and her career in endocrinology made her an expert on the subject. Like the other great woman we lost this past week, Ann Richards, Ramey punched many a hole in sexist dogma. What strikes me today is the continuing dogma surrounding how physiological gender differences affect political and societal roles. Ramey once stated, "I am appalled at the fact that men have not studied the differences between males and females for their own advantage." Thirty years later, that statement still stands.

Much has been written and studied on the manner in which women collaborate at work; how they multitask; and how little they stick up for one and other. What if we did a little scientific research into women's hardwiring to nurture and caretake and used the stats to support appropriate career tracking for professional women who elect it? Thank goodness today's working woman doesn't have to defend her storming hormones as Ramey did in 1970 when she challenged the Democratic National Convention official who asserted that women were unfit for the presidency or for handling emergencies such as the Cuban Missile Crisis. She pointed out that our president who had handled the missile crisis in fact also had a chronic, severe hormonal imbalance, Addison's disease.

Discrimination is a condition of ignorance. The more we understand the differences between men and women, the more educated our decisions about tasking them becomes. The press is loaded these days with examples of highly talented women who are still on the partner track while taking some time to focus on family or personal matters. It is companies in the industries that are hard-pressed to replace retiring baby boomers who are leading the flexibility charge. While I am always one to understand that pain begets gain, I ask us now to consider making the bold changes in professionalism that Ramey and Richards spoke on when challenging society's myths on gender differences. As Ramey once responded years ago, " I would rather be a chairman (than chairperson). They make more." Ask a professional at the height of their career if they want to make more or have time and make a little less and the answer will often be the latter. Now, that's progress.

Although it might seem like a business's wildest dreams to have willing employees available at a moment's notice, a new report by Rutgers University School of Business says that employers may be liable for encouraging addiction.

Gayle Porter, an associate professor of management at the university said "Information and Communication Technology addiction has been treated by policy makers as a kind of elephant in the room... everyone sees it, but no one wants to acknowledge it directly. Owing to vested interests of the employers and the OCT industry signs of possible addiction, excess use of ICT and related stress illnesses, are often ignored". http://ur.rutgers.edu/medrel/viewArticle.html?ArticleID=5284

Well, anyone with children can attest to how addicting electronics are for kids. Once a kid is logged in to his DS, PS, Tamagotchi or Xbox, never mind the television or internet-- they are in a trance. In order to break the trance, the parent must risk a range of reactions from their progeny ranging from blank stares to outright hostility at being disconnected. Come to think of it, I have seen a similar reaction from my spouse during football season and Survivor.

The point here is that self awareness and self control are the keystones to using a Blackberry or any other tether to work. That said, I must admit to a compulsive habit of logging on every chance I get. Recently, I began to log the minutes I spend logging on and keying in to my several mail accounts, my website and a couple of favorites on the internet. I haven't tallied the minutes yet, but it's already looking like I put in a lot of time. This is still preferable to doing much of this commincation on the phone like we used to do. Phone time is for significant interactions with clients, press and marketing support.

Addicting? No doubt about it. To me constant connection with work is the natural progression from the what the baby boomers invented as workaholism. At the time, we travelled in to the office every day, stayed late, came in on the weekends. The addictive behavior isn't new, but the flexibility afforded by remote access is potentially a good thing. If it can shave hours off a commute, get you out of the office on time or sometimes and improve response time, both morale and productivity should improve.

What 40 hour work week? The time and space of the 40 hour work week has exploded according to John Challenger, president and CEO of Challneger, Gray & Christmas outplacement firm in Chicago. "We not only do our work at the office, but we do it at home, on the road or on vacation." And that's not all bad.

Thanks to techonology, the dedicated professional is working more efficiently than ever before. It is the flexibility of being mobile that allows a parent to take a family member to the doctor or to attend a child's event during the weekday. Touching base from vacation at the very least points to the fact that the individual is on vacation and not allowing earned time off to go unused.

Take family leave for example. There is no national policy on the time a new parent can take when they have a new child. Scores of new parents manage to cobble together a plan with their employer and FMLA. Each plan is unique and negotiated. And whether it involves changing jobs, moving, taking unpaid time off or returning to work, parenting marches on. In fact, it is parenting that is so compelling that a new parent will go to bat to get some time off even risking or changing jobs to do what feels right for their family. Not so with most other circumstances such as caring for an elderly parent. I used to work for a guy who put his dad in a nursing center in the midWest, far from the East Coast city Dad lived his entire life in. My boss had a rationale: "I am more likely to visit my dad if he is in a city that I crisscross when travelling for work." I remember him saying he saw his dad about three times that year.

I can't help wondering what would happen if we all began to negotiate for balance in our working hours with the same passion that surfaces at the birth of our children. With CFO Magazine citing that personnel, salaries and skilled labor are the things on most CFO's minds, what if talent retention simply hinged on some flexibility during the transition times of our lives?