Career vs Children

In light of the recent moves by parliament to close the gender pay gap once and for all (it is now necessary for all companies with over 250 employees to reveal the difference between the average salaries paid to men and women, in an attempt to shame them into paying men and women equally), the real question for me is whether or not this policy addresses the root of the issue.

Shamefully British women continue to earn less than their male counterparts in spite of legislation intended to prevent this. However this is no longer due to open discrimination but instead it seems that, once again, womens' ability to reproduce is impeding their advances in the work place.

The problem appears to lie in the period of time during and after childbirth. For every new Mother, regardless of her ambitions, it is necessary to take time off from her job. Even with changes to paternity leave allowing men to share this burden the vast majority of Mothers end up taking a sizable break from their careers. This effectively means that many Mothers fall behind their male counterparts whilst having children, something that is near impossible to recover from, this great disadvantage prevents countless women from progressing in their careers and therefore they are less likely to be earning as much as men, simply due to the fact that they have not climbed as high up the career ladder.

Unfortunately there is a fair amount of evidence to support this, if we look at the most influential female politicians, many are childless. Nicola Sturgeon, Angela Merkel, Theresa May and Liz Kendall to name but a few, are all women who have sacrificed having a family for the sake of their jobs. Obviously this was a personal choice on their parts, and there are women who have succeeded whilst raising children, but the problem is that this remains far less likely. Therefore it is unsurprising that so few politicians are female.

With young women today facing a choice between children and a high powered job, undoubtedly something needs to change, but how make this change is the real question.

Already there have been alterations made to employment laws in order to break the glass ceiling, but it is impossible to escape the facts of biology. Women are ultimately more suited to nursing babies soon after childbirth, and therefore, even when Fathers want to take the lion's share of childcare, this is far harder during early childhood without being at the expense of the children, for example depriving them of breast milk. 

Part time work is a solution, and although this is satisfactory for many Mothers, it is impossible to progress at the same speed as men without working the same hours as them and therefore there is only so high up these women can get.

To conclude, somehow women need to be able to pursue their own careers without this being at the expense of their children and family life, however this complex issue in not one easily solved. And perhaps it will never be possible for women to be successful in the work place and devoted Mothers, meaning that the best we can hope for is to give all women a choice between their career and family.


Written by Lili

Picture Credit: Ellen

The Week Magazine: "Motherhood: a political conundrum" (25th July 2015)