Why Ambitious Women May Consider Stepping Back from Their Careers

In a recent LinkedIn post, Lissele Pratt discusses why some ambitious women consider stepping away from careers they have worked hard to build. This article reports on Pratt’s post and the perspective she shares there; it is not written by Pratt.

“What if women aren’t losing ambition? What if they’re just tired of paying the price for it?”

Pratt draws on more than seven years of mentoring young women in business. She recounts a recent conversation with a mentee who is talented and succeeding, yet sometimes imagines leaving her career altogether. Pratt says the conversation stayed with her, prompting a broader question about the conditions women face as they advance professionally.

When ambition comes with an unequal cost

According to Pratt, workplace advice has often urged women to work harder, seek raises and continue climbing. But she challenges the assumption that women’s career progress depends mainly on asking for more. In her post, she points to research indicating that women ask for raises as often as men, while being less likely to receive them.

“They’re simply less likely to get them.”

The distinction shifts attention from individual ambition to how employers respond to it. Pratt’s argument suggests that persistent gaps in outcomes may leave women weighing not only whether they want to advance, but also what pursuing advancement will demand of them.

Making room for personal choice

Pratt is careful not to prescribe a single answer. She says women should be free to choose how they balance careers and family, rather than being pushed toward one as the more legitimate option. As Pratt notes, the choice should belong to each woman.

“I believe every woman deserves to make that choice for herself.”

That emphasis matters to the question she raises: whether stepping away is a genuine preference or begins to feel like the more manageable response to barriers at work. Pratt does not claim that every woman who leaves has been driven out; instead, she asks what it means when leaving can seem easier than staying.

A question for employers and leaders

Pratt’s post invites employers and business leaders to consider whether their practices make advancement equally attainable. Her framing points toward examining pay decisions and the workplace expectations attached to ambition, alongside celebrating women who succeed within existing systems.

Pratt says the issue is explored further in her latest article for Entrepreneur and encourages readers to continue the conversation. Her LinkedIn post leaves readers with a question about choice, ambition and the conditions that shape both.