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Sex, status, success: Why hold back? The following article is the third in a series dedicated to Women’s History month and the national theme, “Women: Builders of Communities and Dreams” featured in The Catalyst throughout March.    by Heather Woolwine Public Relations Remarkable women dappled throughout history asked—no, demanded—that women act on their rights as professionals in the workplace and as citizens raising families and communities.   Some may ponder what happened to the fire behind the women’s liberation movement of decades past. Many women in professional circles point to evidence that all is not quite yet equal. They wonder what’s holding most women back from making it up those last few rungs to the top of the proverbial ladder in the workplace and politics.   Dr. Linda Austin Linda Austin, M.D., MUSC professor of psychiatry, believes she’s found the answer.   On Thursday, March 30, at noon in the Basic Science Auditorium Room 100, Austin will talk sex, status, and success, and what she describes as the real glass ceiling. A renowned psychiatrist, author, and radio talk show personality (“What’s On Your Mind?”), Austin’s recent book entitled, “What’s Holding You Back? 8 Critical Choices for Women’s Success,” sits on Oprah’s Book list.   The book examines why, after 30 years of empowerment, women still underachieve, occupying only 10 percent of the top-level managerial and professional occupations. It asks where the women leaders and visionaries are, and dismisses the traditional notion of a glass ceiling, thanks to current workplace laws. Instead, Austin argues that a self-imposed psychological glass ceiling, or thoughts and feelings of women that block real achievement, directs women’s decision-making. Filled with interviews, her experiences, and research studies, Austin examines various roads to success and identifies eight crucial choices that determine the extent of that success.   “For the talk in relation to MUSC’s Women’s History Month recognition, I want to explore the concept of this psychological glass ceiling, and describe the differences in the way men and women develop intellect, and how to use those differences to reach your full potential,” Austin said.   Austin mentioned several topics related to this concept. For instance, by nature men or boys tend to become interested in things and really focus on particular interests, whereas women or girls are more interested in people and move through life with broader, more general interests. Within a society that rewards experience and success in tightly focused areas, it’s obvious that women may have a natural barrier from the beginning, according to Austin. The solution lies in creative problem-finding for women; meaning that success stems from finding problems to solve and prioritizing them in terms of professional development. So, as the global community continues to tighten with the continued advent of better communication technology and the like, there may come a balance shift where women’s natural tendency toward more broad humanistic problems will serve to propel them to the top of dealing with pertinent world and workplace issues. Austin explained,” Women are well-suited to examine those problems without a focused, technological fix like what do we do about the rate of divorce, unwanted children, the number of children in poverty, self-esteem of the unemployed, or the future of our aging population, and then could easily become the leaders of finding and solving those problems.”   In addition to the aforementioned title, Austin also published “Heart of the Matter: How to Find Love, How to Make it Work” and operates a private psychiatry practice on James Island.     Friday, March 24, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island papers at 849-1778, ext. 201.