Childless women least sympathetic to working mothers
Women without children are less sympathetic than men to a colleague who is a mother and juggling home and work commitments, research reveals today (Wednesday September 19).57 per cent of mothers said that childless women colleagues were less understanding of the demands facing them than men in the office, the report for The Family Care Company found.
The Working Mothers’ Report also found that 52 per cent of working Mums found it easier to blame a faulty alarm clock or heavy traffic than admitting that childcare problems had made them late.
The research found 94 per cent of mothers said juggling home and office life impacted on their career. However, only 31 per cent said the dual demands of work and family had an impact on a father’s careers.
Despite the Government’s promise to encourage a better work/life balance 66 per cent of working mothers said pushing for flexible working that they knew an employer could accommodate, such as working from home or taking different hours, would have a negative effect on their careers.
The report, which surveyed 1500 working mothers, also reveals that 37 per cent of mothers applying for a job have been asked about family commitments during their interview. 13 per cent said they had even delayed having children, even though they wanted them, because they felt their employer would disapprove.
Ben Black, founder of The Family Care Company, said that the research found it was not only employers but also colleagues who failed to understand the pressures of juggling home and family life.”
Case study – city lawyer Lisa Thompson
Former City lawyer Lisa Thompson failed to appreciate the demands of work and family life until she had a baby herself.
Lisa, 38, worked her way up to become a partner with a large London firm. As a young lawyer with no children work was her major focus.
But when she had children, and all the demands that came with it, she found that sometimes support from women colleagues without children was hard to come by.
“Having children meant leaving the office on time. However that was not the end of the working day. I was often back on my computer at 7pm working for several more hours. Occasionally I could detect that some women colleagues without children were not impressed with me leaving but I was still putting in the hours even if it was not always in the office.
“I couldn’t blame them because when I was in their position I was very work focussed and could not appreciate the demands working parents would have,” she said.
Lisa returned to work full-time after having son Teddy, now 4, and then went part-time when she had her second son Oliver, 3.
“Going part-time was very difficult, especially in a transactional orientated role like property law,” she added.
Lisa, from Fulham, who is married to City property executive Neil, found that when she had childcare problems she would not admit that was a reason for being late.
“There were times when our nanny was ill and another when she got bumped from her seat coming back from holiday. If I admitted that childcare was the problem I could not get into work then that would become a justification for people who had concerns about a mother having an important role in the firm.
“I knew that I could do both, but did not want other people thinking that childcare was a problem. Saying there was a problem with trains is certainly more acceptable than a childcare breakdown,” she said.
Lisa had a third child, 9 month old Clara, and is now a full-time mother, although she says it is possible to juggle home and work life.
“I was in a fortunate position where I could make a choice and took in a whole host of factors. I think that employers and colleagues should understand about home demands. It is possible to continue to do a demanding job and bring up a family,” she said.
The Family Care Company
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