Every so often, a reader will complain that I’m a downer about women’s progress. That I’m too cynical. That I don’t give enough credit to good efforts. That I’m part of the problem, not the solution.

Well, what can I say? I am a glass half-empty kind of gal. And, frankly, you’d be too, if you tracked women in the professions as closely as I do and read all those reports, studies and articles on the subject.