Family & Friends
Women and Work
Posted by Jean
When I was pregnant with my first, an older relative asked me when I was planning to stop working. Not if I was planning to stop working. But when. And when I told him I had no intention of stopping — in what may have been a snippy tone as I was put off by the question — he was surprised. We were coming from totally different places. Me, from one of working in a job I was really enjoying (I was at Smart Money at the time). Him from watching every other young woman he knew — even some with law degrees and MBAs — quit work as they entered motherhood. Times have changed. The new National Study of the Changing Workforce from the Work and Families Institute — an important piece of research conducted every five years — shows that Times Are Changing. Among the findings:
* For the first time, young women are just as likely as young men (both under age 29) to want jobs with greater responsibility.
* For the first time, young women with children are just as likely to want jobs with a lot of responsibility than young women without.
* Women in two-career couples are earning a greater share of the family income than ever before — it’s now 44 percent.
* And fathers are more engaged. They now spend 3 hours a day with children under age 13, on average, up from 2 hours a year ago.
I was heartened to see these results — and more. Maybe I should have been a millenial rather than a boomer/Xer (I was born in 64 so I’m right on the dividing line.) How about you? Have you seen evidence of this data in your own lives?
COMMENTS | 3 comments so far
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I actually quit work when my first was born and I’m a gen Xer. I don’t regret it one bit. For me, it was a matter of being there for my children’s most formative years. We make it work on one income and I can focus on the kids and managing our resources wisely. I spend a lot of time reading about and doing finances and it may lead to a new career someday!
I am a recently married millenial. And I want to have children and get more responibility in my job. My husband and I are both supportive of each other’s careers and fully intend to stay working when we have children. I don’t think it will be easy, but I don’t believe we’d be neglecting our children by sending them to daycare. My father raised my brother & I alone, when my mother died of cancer, I was 11, my brother 6. He worked all day, and was a loving and supportive father. If he could do it, there is no reason I can’t.
However, my friends and I are probably not all on the same boat. I know many very bright and well educated young woman, who will do exactly the opposite. I would say it’s 50-50. I wonder if today’s economic crisis will make woman think twice before deciding to stay home. (I could go on and on about this, so I digress)
I quit work 10 months after my first child was born. I didn’t want to, but I saw the writing on the wall. I was in a career with little to no flexibility in work hours or absences from home and it was only going to get worse as I got promoted.
Looking back, I wish I had chosen a more family-friendly career field in which I could’ve scaled back my hours or taken a leave or absence. I will advise my daughters to consider this when chosing a their future career.