Whatever you think of the UK prime minister, Theresa May has a very rough road ahead. If Hillary Clinton becomes US president, she will join Mrs May at the top of the glassiest of “glass cliffs”.
The phrase describes the tendency for women to be preferred over men for precarious jobs. Among chief executives, lawyers, prospective members of parliament, even secondary school student representatives, studies show women are often assigned the intractable tasks, the risky cases and, according to analysis of UK elections, the harder-to-win constituencies.
Hurrah for that, you may say: it should be cause for celebration that women don’t shy from such roles. I suppose it is a perverse sign of progress that, after centuries of men serving as dud presidents, failed youth leaders and losing barristers, women should get their shot. But the reasons women seem to get these tricky roles are a depressing sign of the sluggishness of advances towards gender parity. Worse, the consequences if these women fail could set back future generations of aspiring female leaders.