In 1992 Deloitte & Touche LLP was celebrating the tenth year in which approximat

In 1992 Deloitte & Touche LLP was celebrating the tenth year in which approximately 50 percent of its new hires were women. Because it takes nearly a decade to become a partner the accounting firm based in Wilton Connecticut was now sitting back waiting for all the women in the pipeline to start making bids for partnership. But something unexpected happened. Instead of seeing an increase in the number of women applying for partnership Deloitte & Touche saw a decline. Talented women were leaving the firm and this represented a huge drain of capable people. In a knowledge-intensive business such as theirs this problem went beyond social consciousness. They could not afford to lose valued partners.