The increased participation of women in the paid workforce has been one of the most significant social trends in the past quarter century, Statistics Canada said last year in its major study, Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report.

Women represented 47 per cent of the total employed work force in 2004 and have dramatically increased their representation in professional fields in recent years, the study said. More than half of those employed in diagnostic and treatment positions in medicine, related health professions and in business and financial professional positions were female.

But many employers have been slow to acknowledge and accommodate the changing gender composition of the labour force.

In 2004, women made up 60 per cent of Canadian law school graduates. Figures from Canadian bar associations, however, indicated that women accounted for less than a third of practising lawyers. The numbers suggest that men and women get jobs at law firms in roughly equal numbers but women leave at a far higher rate.

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of the Supreme Court of Canada lamented recently that talented female lawyers are leaving law firms, and often the legal profession altogether, in a "systemic exodus" because of an "Edwardian, male-dominated" culture that demands long hours and the kind of career commitment many mothers cannot give.

……. McLachlin decried this system, saying women are hindered by law firms' strict, inflexible business model that focuses on the bottom line.

Focus isn't the problem. Every organization, public and private, should keep an eye on the bottom line. The question is whether a model that incurs a dropout rate of experienced, talented women that's twice the rate of men makes any business sense. One estimate put the cost of an associate's departure -- taking into account recruitment, training and severance -- at $315,000.

Long hours do not always beget quality and productivity. McLachlin advocates a corporate culture that accepts part-time work and sabbaticals and allows flexible arrangements, such as working from home.

But a recent survey by Catalyst Canada found that 65 per cent of those who said they wanted to use a flexible work arrangement were concerned that they would be seen as less committed to their firm, and half thought it would jeopardize their opportunities for professional growth.

Of 1,400 Canadian lawyers surveyed, 84 per cent of women and 66 per cent of men rated "an environment supportive of my family and personal commitments" as an important factor in choosing to work at another firm. Money and career advancement were well down the list. And nearly a third of the women and half the men said they expected to leave their current employer within five years.

Work-life balance may have become something of a cliche but the evidence is incontrovertible: Professionals -- yes, even lawyers -- want a life as well as a career.

It's long past time corporate culture adapted to this reality.