When the biological clock can no longer be ignored, even professional women on the highest rungs of their career fall for the desire to have children. The significant dent motherhood might cause an otherwise successful career trajectory isn’t really top of the agenda and why should it be?
Gender Inequality
According to a survey published by Dr. Gillian Paull in the February 2008 issue of The Economic Journal, titled "Children and Women's Hours of Work", more than four out of five (85%) working women in Britain are in full-time employment. However, when children arrive, a third (34%) of women with pre-school children work full-time and this only increases to 41% for school age children.
91% of working men in Britain are employed full-time prior to children. The proportion of men working full-time is slightly greater for those with children as they become the sole breadwinners. 96% of working fathers with a pre-school child and 97% of working fathers with a youngest child of school age are in full-time employment.
While there are many contributing social and economic factors, the stark reality is that women are still largely responsible for raising young children as they have been through ancient times.
Loss of Job Satisfaction
Women who manage to work full-time often suffer a loss of status as seen by the high profile court cases brought by high-flying women. Lateral moves often turn out to be disguised demotions that lead to a loss of responsibility and job satisfaction.
In a face to face interview on the 23rd of April, Heather Kay* from North London says, “I went back to work in the City [London's Square Mile] when my daughter was 4 months. If she was ill and I had to take a day off, my male colleagues would make snide comments. Yet, no one blinked an eye when they called in sick with hangovers. In the end, I just handed in my notice. I didn't feel I had any other choice.”
The Pay Penalty for Working Part-time
To achieve work-life balance, many women move into part-time work, only to find that they earn much less than their equivalent full time counterparts.
For women looking for an intellectual challenge, part-time professional work in the managerial, professional and associate professional occupations, is like gold dust and women often have to downgrade to low-wage occupations for which they are highly over-qualified.
In an article titled, “The Price of Reconciliation: Part-time Work, Families and Women's Satisfaction” in the same issue of The Economic Journal, researchers Mary Gregory and Sara Connolly highlight that “44% of women professionals who downgrade move into low-skill jobs, where the average employee lacks even A-levels. Among nurses leaving nursing, two-thirds become care assistants, continuing to use their nursing skills but at a level requiring around 3 years less training".
For some lucky women, their career progresses unabated. Sadly for others, the painful loss of a satisfying career with good prospects will linger on past the turbulent years of early motherhood to when their children have grown up and left home.
In an interview on the 25th of April 2008, Pauline Gladwin* from London insists that nothing has changed, “I went back to work full time because staying at home just wasn’t for me. I missed the intellectual challenge and the company of adults.”
So should motherhood be boycotted altogether by career-minded women? Hardly, but hopefully these sobering realities can direct women to make informed choices and bring more men on board to contribute their equal share to raising children.
Can a society really afford to lose the talents of women after all the years of equal achievement in education and work? Good quality part-time work for men and women would beneficial for families and society as a whole.
* Names have been changed to protect their privacy.
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