Equality is about equal pay for equal results. Not handouts. People forget that although the handout might be good for society overall it is unfair to the person giving out the handout.
I don't think this step is intermediate. It is the most fair step possible.
If those workaholics are women then those women very much need to be promoted as well. The data actually shows this is already happening. It shows that when you control for the choices women make about child care... the gender pay gap is largely negligible.
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-true-story-of-the-gende...
This is an interesting podcast about the topic if you haven't hear of this concept already. They interview a female statistical professor from Harvard about it.
Claudia Goldin, the economic "Nobel" Laurette this year. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Goldin