Gender Issues

In most parts of the world, women are seen rising to the ranks of men in many aspects of life. There are, however, still top positions in organisations that do not see that many women. Do women slow down in their careers because of family issues such as marriage and child-bearing etc? Or are they just being thought of as 'not as good' as the men, resulting in fewer women climing up high on the corporate ladder. To put it directly, is it due to choice that women are not doing as well as men in terms of occupying the top positions in organisations or are they left behind because of gender inequality at the workplace?