The answer is simple for Moses: "If you have a relationship where each person values the other and values their goals and aspirations, you've just got to figure out the rhythm of the career cycles of both people and be flexible enough" to flow with them.

Still, society has yet to address the problems of the woman's dual responsibilities.

"My good friend (Dr.) Elnora Daniel (president of Chicago State University) and I are always saying that we need a wife!" says Haysbert. "In the sense that, men in these positions, they can call their wives at home and say, ‘I've got two visitors from Bangladesh in today, and I need to have five people for the reception. Can you call this person, this person, this person and make all the arrangements?' Now the female executive has no wife to say that to, and most times her husband is working. So that means she takes out an extra hour or more to make the preparations — it's much more of an effort."

It's the dilemma of the "double day," as Moses calls it. "The reality is that most women in the United States still lead a double life — the life they lead in the workplace and university and then the life at home. Men are doing more, but the majority of women are still responsible for what is essentially two jobs. Even where there is help it's usually the woman who organizes and makes sure that the help is there."

All the women interviewed for these articles strongly credit their husbands for being secure enough to divide family responsibilities in order to help their wives achieve.

That's what it takes, Moses says, adding, "In order for women to be as successful as men, they have to be freed from the double day."