When I was a kid, my mother stayed home with my younger sister and I until my sister was old enough to go to school. Even then, she worked part-time for a number of years. She packed our lunches, made home-cooked meals and sewed our Halloween costumes. We took it for granted because, at that time, it’s what most mothers did.
I don’t think my mother regretted the time she spent out of the workforce. But there’s no question it put a hold on her career, and she worried about not having enough money saved in her RRSPs to last through retirement. If your workforce includes women of child-bearing age, they have some tough decisions to make.
Do they want kids? If so, when is the right time to have them? How much leave will they take, and how will the time off impact their career? Do they even want to go back to work? If they do, then how will they handle work and family needs?
Having kids does affect your career trajectory. In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg talks about women taking themselves out of the running for promotions just because they’re thinking about getting pregnant.
And we’re fortunate to have a whole year of maternity leave here in Canada. But those who take the full time may still miss out on opportunities, just because they’re not around. In I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This: Success Secrets Every Gutsy Girl Should Know, former Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Kate White advises staying involved in your work even while you’re on maternity leave. From a career standpoint, that makes sense, but what personal sacrifices will you have to make?
Employers are in a unique position to help all employees—not just women—who are struggling with conflicting demands in their work and personal lives. Extended parental leave, flexible hours and telecommuting arrangements are becoming more common. Some employers are getting even more creative. Apple and Facebook, for example, will help pay for female employees to freeze their eggs if they want to delay starting a family to focus on their career. “We want to empower women at Apple to do the best work of their lives as they care for loved ones and raise their families,” said Apple in a statement.
We worry so much about budgets and targets and productivity, it’s easy to forget we’re all people with our own lives outside of work. Balancing a career and a family isn’t just a women’s issue anymore; it’s a human issue. And that’s a good thing. Because only when it’s everyone’s problem will it finally get the attention it deserves.
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