Women aren’t always equal when it comes to the work place and men tended to dominate the high paying and more professional roles, however as the years tick on by this over-all gap has shifted and thankfully the old fashioned mind-set of a women’s place being in the home has changed. Women have fought hard for their rights to vote, work and for equal pay, it is something I am extremely grateful for and proud of and hopefully come the time my children are working there will be no divide within the work place.
Content marketing agency Axonn Media recently completed a survey of working parents to find out how they felt about the professional challenges they faced.
Axonn Media surveyed 108 parents on their working life and it would seem that being a Mum still presents greater professional challenges than being a Dad, even in 2017!
The Gender in Marketing 2017 report found that of the parents surveyed, 62% of Mums felt that becoming a parent had hindered their career/career progression in some way, as opposed to just 24% of the fathers surveyed who felt the same way.
It seems that even though employers are legally bound to offer flexible working hours and solutions to ensure Mother’s are able to return to work, the logistics aren’t always workable and mothers feel there are more obstacles to overcome.
I have a friend who has just returned to work after 9 months of maternity leave after her second child, after the first the return wasn’t too bad and she went from 5 days to 4 days due to the childcare she had available, however this time it is even harder with school runs to factor in and a baby she was hoping to be able to go to 3 days as childcare for her would cost too much otherwise. This wasn’t possible from and they stated it had to be 4 days again, which wouldn’t have been an issue had they allowed her to return to the hours she previously had – school hours, but NO they were now stating it had to be 4 long days. Of course this isn’t the job role and hours she had left so had to go down the HR route before finally being offered 3 days but 3 long days. She took this and with a little juggling of childcare it is currently working – of course both children being poorly on her first week back to work wasn’t planned and even more juggling was needed – but it’s what us Mum’s do isn’t it?
I am very glad that I changed careers after becoming a parent, the amount of time my children are poorly would have seen me fired within the year, but for me the flexibility of working from home suits our lifestyle better, I can still work and bring in a good wage (although I do miss the regularity of actual set payday!) and I can still be the Mum I have always wanted to be even if that means working into the evening once they are in bed.
Take a look at this infographic which outlines the findings of this survey:
With results like this it is no surprise that within the marketing industry 3 in 10 choose to work from home, it does certainly cut back on the work commute and means the 3 hours of domestic chores can be done while we are waiting for the laptop to boot up or that important reply to the email we are waiting for.
For example, today is my working day – I have taken the children to school, popped to the shop for my top-up shop, answered all my emails, put a load of washing on and loaded the dishwasher, typed two posts and sent out some more emails, made a few phone calls and chased outstanding invoices. I’ve updated my spreadsheets and sent some more invoices out – now it is lunch time and I will unload the washing machine and dishwasher while my lunch cooks before cramming in a few more hours work before the school run, swimming lessons and making dinner. If I were in an office the housework jobs would still need doing on my return because if I don’t do they then they don’t get done.
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Clare
Hi, I'm Clare (Emmy's Mummy). A former Nanny and Mother of 2 - Emmy (born February 2010) and Harry (born October 2012). We are Essex based and share our adventures and misadventures of a busy crazy life.
