Children is a choice Live with the consequences

Millions of highly qualified women forced to take lesser jobs after having children
By DANIEL BATES - More by this author »

Last updated at 08:36am on 27th February 2008

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=519989&in_page_id=1770

Losing out: One in four professional women quits her job when starting a family and, of those, half later move into a job where the average employee doesn't even have A-levels

Millions of highly qualified women fall off the career ladder once they have children and are forced to take lesser jobs when they try returning to work, a study has revealed.

One in four professional women quits her job when starting a family and, of those, half later move into a job where the average employee doesn't even have A-levels.

Faced with employers who won't offer flexible hours or will only let them work part-time, mothers of young children have little choice but to take jobs beneath their qualification level if they want to stay working, the study says.

The study, the most comprehensive report on the impact of motherhood on careers, is the first to quantify the hidden 'brain drain' for professional women who become mothers.

It says the overall effect is to waste the talents of some of Britain's most qualified women.

Based on a long-standing research project that has followed the lives of 18,000 people since 1991, the researchers said before the arrival of children, more than four in five women are working full-time and putting in more than 30 hours a week.

But afterwards, 34 per cent of mothers with pre-school children have full-time jobs.

The proportion working full-time rises to 41 per cent of mothers whose youngest child has reached school age.

The majority of those who carry on working do so part-time, but since most professional jobs do not allow flexible hours this leads to 'occupational downgrading'.

Researchers Dr Sara Connolly, a lecturer in economics at the University of East Anglia, and Dr Mary Gregory, a lecturer in economics at Oxford University, said women managers are among those worst affected when they become mothers.

One in three women corporate managers move down the occupational ladder - two-thirds taking clerical positions and the remaining third a range of other lower-skill jobs.

Women managers of shops, salons and restaurants are even worse affected.

Almost half give up their managerial responsibilities to become sales assistants, hairdressers and similar.

Teaching and nursing are the most favourable careers in supporting moves to part-time work while continuing in the profession.

But even there nearly one in ten quit for lower-skill jobs. More than one in five women from other professional occupations downgrade.

Dr Gregory said: "This is wasting the talents of Britain's most highly qualified women.

"I think we should start using the term 'reduced hours' rather than part-time which paints a picture of someone who is casual and uncommitted.

"There should be more opportunities for women to continue their careers in this capacity once they start a family.

"It happens in medicine in general practice so why shouldn't it happen more in advertising and the legal profession?

"It's simply a case of enabling them to do the same job but less of it - fewer cases for instance.

"Women are doing very well in higher education and we are wasting all this as soon as they start a family - just when they are starting to get on.

"It's not good for them and it's not good for the economy. Reduced hours work should not mean you are restricted to jobs that you are over-qualified for."

The research was published in the Royal Economic Society's Economic Journal.

In their report the authors say: "At present the low quality of part-time jobs means that women are paying the price of reconciling work and family.

"This loss of career status with part-time work is a stark failure among otherwise encouraging trends for women's advancement.

"Girls and young women are outperforming males at all educational levels. They are moving into an expanding range of occupations and building successful careers.

"The gender pay gap is narrowing. But for many this comes to an abrupt halt when child-care becomes part of the working week."

Six million women, 40 per cent of those in work, are in part-time jobs.

*********************************************************************************************************************************
I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

"The majority of those who carry on working do so part-time, but since most professional jobs do not allow flexible hours this leads to 'occupational downgrading'."

This is why. Britain is smart, unlike the United States, and they realize that Moomies with babies and toddlers will probably cost more than they will earn for the business/company because she'll need to take off frequently to deal with her kid. Someone without a kid will be more likely to work full-time, put in real work, and the employer won't have to worry about the ossibility of losing the labor because the worker had to dash home to wipe their kid's ass.

You need to make sacrifices when you shit out a kid, and this is one of them. The sanctimonious Moos most likely expect to work for a couple hours, be able to kee their job while taking off on a moment's notice three times a week to care for Snookums, and still receiving a full day's wages...and to have those without kids, who "don't understaaaaaand how haaaaard it is" to pick u the slack for free.

That's the key word here: CHOICE.

Except - many woman think that because they've made that choice, that everyone should pander to their needs: emotionally, physically, and financially.

And why? Do they think breeding is that important and that spectacular of an event that people should just bend over and give the breeding moos anything and everything they want?

Can't afford a car seat, just ask the hospital for a free one! Can't afford to feed Shitford? Thank heavens for WIC! All of the assistance these parasites gets ultimately comes out of the pockets of everyone in America who pays taxes and pays for health care. This is why my ass gets especially chapped when I'm in a restaurant trying to enjoy a dinner at an adult-appropriate place and a famblee is next to us with a screaming shit loaf or toddler.

KidFreeLuvnLife Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------
> And why? Do they think breeding is that important
> and that spectacular of an event that people
> should just bend over and give the breeding moos
> anything and everything they want?

That's EXACTLY what they think. And they will look at you, mouth gaping, in dumbfounded silence if you try to tell them otherwise.

I'm so sick of these silly cows operating under the delusion that the choices they've made won't/shouldn't affect their lives. TOO BAD, THEY DO. The business world is exactly that. BUSINESS. When you have a job people expect you to WORK, and demonstrate some level of dedication and competence. That means NOT running home to take care of every soccer game and sniffle. It means finding a sitter. It means not expecting others to do your job for you. It means not expecting employers to undergo a long and tedious hiring process just so you can go jaunting off on maternity leave a year later. And putting your career on pause to have a family only demonstrates to employers that you are not as committed as you like to think you are.

Anyone who has been out of their field for a while WILL have trouble finding a decent job in that field later. That is true of anyone. It's called LIFE. Get used to it.

**I think we should start using the term 'reduced hours' rather than part-time which paints a picture of someone who is casual and uncommitted.**

::eye roll::

But they want the world given to them, more money, comparing dangerous jobs to less dangerous.

they want to be able to go to work, have a kid, come back then get pregnant again and off they go again.. and again..

*********************************************************************************************************************************
I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein