Hitting the "Mommy Wall"
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| Mon, 10-24-2005 - 11:19am |
I am surprised that this actually comes as a surprise to women trying to re-enter the workforce after taking time off to SAH. *Anyone* taking a not-so-brief hiatus from their career should expect the same treatment IMO . . . you're not going to be able to pick up right where you left off.
BTW - "hi" everyone! I've missed it here! :)
Women raise kids, lose careers
By TENISHA MERCER
THE DETROIT NEWS
Veronica Golubovic spent more than 20 years on the runways of Paris, Italy and New York as a designer for some of the most powerful names in fashion -- Yves Saint Laurent, Donna Karan and Perry Ellis.
But it was a three-year gap on her resume -- the hiatus she took after the births of her two children -- that garnered the most attention from prospective employers four years ago when Golubovic tried to resume her career.
She hasn't forgotten one recruiter's look of discomfort when she explained she was a stay-at-home mom. Or the way a top official at a retailer dismissed her during an interview with, "Oh, so now you don't know if you want to be a stay-at-home mommy."
"I came here thinking I've done so much, but it was very difficult," said Golubovic, 45, who eventually opened a designer clothing store in Birmingham, Mich., earlier this year. "I didn't think people would be hung up on it, but it was shocking and surprising. I couldn't believe their reactions."
Thirty years after women began joining the work force in large numbers, many are hitting the "mommy wall" when they try to return to work after having children.
They find it difficult -- if not impossible -- to return to the same positions they left, according to a recent study by the Forte Foundation in New York and the Wharton Center for Leadership and Change at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Unprepared for the obstacles they face on their return, many opt out of traditional corporate jobs and move to smaller companies. Experts dub the trend the "female brain drain" and say the exodus is coming just as businesses need talented, experienced workers to fill the gap as baby boomers prepare to retire en masse, leaving the biggest labor shortage in history in their wake.
"This is a defining issue for women," said Monica McGrath, an assistant professor at Wharton, who spearheaded the study. "Women who leave as vice presidents are not coming back as vice presidents. Now is not the time for corporations to squander billions of dollars in talent and enthusiasm at their fingertips. This is a talent pool that organizations need. We have a voice at the table, and I would hate to see us lose that."
The study found that half of working mothers who returned to work felt discouraged by their employer. Eighty-three percent ended up accepting a comparable or lower-level position, while 61 percent changed industries. About 45 percent of the women surveyed started their own businesses, and 59 percent went to work at smaller companies. The study is based on interviews with 200 women, most of them with MBA degrees.
The results add more fuel to the debate about whether and how women can blend careers and family. Even as women are graduating from law, business and medical schools at almost the same rates as men, they find their careers shifting in very different directions from their male colleagues once they have children.
"They want to spend time with their children, and it can be very time-consuming," said New York-based Cindy Swensen, who coaches executive women on how to return to work after having children. "Volunteering at the bake sale is probably not going to help you re-enter the work force."
It's a strange phenomenon for a generation of women who were raised to break down barriers while "having it all" -- even if that meant delaying or postponing plans to have children to focus on their careers.
"We hear very few stories of people just stepping back in where they left off," said Joanne Brundage, executive director of Mothers & More, a Chicago-area support group for working women who postpone their careers to have children.
"Clearly, there is a price to be paid for not staying full-time, full-force in most professions," Brundage said. "I think women who are becoming mothers now have a different set of priorities than women did 15 to 20 years ago. Unfortunately, the message may change, but the environment stays the same."
It's a message Cynthia Aks wasn't prepared for. The first female surgeon to graduate from the residency program at Oakland General Hospital in Madison Heights, Mich., in 1990, Aks battled her share of discrimination from colleagues who didn't care to work with women surgeons, she said.
But after Aks, an emergency room surgeon, decided to have a family in her late 30s, she found it tough to regain the solid career footing she had before her triplets were born nearly 13 years ago. Forced to take seven months off for pregnancy complications, her contract was not renewed, she said, because the hospital didn't know how to deal with a female surgeon with children.
Aks resumed her career as a specialty surgeon, but at a huge cost: Her salary plummeted 60 percent.
"The perception is that you cannot juggle multiple hats effectively," said Aks, 49, who now owns a medical practice in Southgate, Mich. "I believe it's challenging, but you can. You can have high aspirations, be successful, have a family and still be involved. It's not equal for women, and I don't think it ever will be."
Southfield, Mich.-based accounting firm Plante & Moran offers tailored work arrangements such as seasonal work, telecommuting and contract employment to retain working mothers. The firm offers the options to management only.
"We want to accommodate people and their schedules," said Bill Bufe, partner and human resources director at the accounting firm. "We've had people who wanted to leave, but we wouldn't let them. We made things much more flexible for them and allowed them to continue to keep their toe in the water here and do what they needed to do in their family."
CHANGING FOCUS WHAT WOMEN CAN DO
WHAT WOMEN CAN DO
Tips for preparing to return to work:
Create a "re-entry" plan with specific goals
Foster a network for support while away from the work force
Volunteer while away and make sure that experience can be framed in business terms when you want to go back to work
Stay connected to colleagues
Maintain professional licenses and memberships and attend continuing education courses
Take classes to refresh knowledge and skills
Stay informed about the business implications of global and economic changes in your field
Secure contract work while away
Be realistic about how long it will take to re-enter the work force
Sources: Wharton Center for Leadership and Change, the Forte Foundation
CHANGING FOCUS
A survey of women returning to work after raising families found many shifted professional roles:
Accepted comparable or lower-level job: 83 percent
Changed industries: 61 percent
Changed functional role: 54 percent
Became self-employed: 45 percent

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Well let's see...Think that their aren't women or men out there that don't make well into 6 figures in my line of work? I would bet you more than what I own that you are very wrong. Think for a moment that women or men in this line of work don't consider their line of work a Serious Business Career? Again...you are wrong.
<<<"Costs of working" when you make that kind of money are not much of a factor.>>>
Again that is subjective to where you live. $100K isn't that large sum of money in parts of this country...just like $50K is a BUNDLE in others. Six figures can be defined as a lot...well into six figures can be $250K....depending on how many children you have and where you live...."costs of working" are a factor.
I think the debate between us is that you don't want to see people who make non-traditional choices penalized, and I'm not interested in treating people who exercise non-traditional choices the exact same way as those who "stayed the course."
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"Not quite sure how this question is substantively different than the one above..."
Let me be more specific then. Do you personally think that *your* WOH status is required in order for you to be considered equal to your husband (whom I am assuming WOH)? If so, why?
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"Once again - context."
Absolutely! Context!
"Staying at home based on mutual agreement and while providing primary care to your kids? Nope."
I agree.
"Staying at home after the kids are in school full time? Still nope"
Again, I agree.
"--- but that opinion changes if the SAHM is not actively engaged in the kids' school life or if the family is struggling financially. If it is starting to affect the financial footing of the family, either in acute (debt, bankruptcy, etc.) or long term (DH can't plan for retirement, have to keep borrowing from house equity, etc) --- yeah - it's starting to get irresponsible."
Yes, I'd agree that this particular scenerio/context is starting to get irresponsible as well.
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"Not at all - they may be ignorant, they may be judgemental, and in all likelihood, they are both ill-informed and stupid. But I would suspect that only a tiny fraction of people who had those thoughts are doing it based on some militant, anti-SAH platform."
Yes, clearly these views are ignorant, judgemental, ill-informed, and even stupid. However, I also think they may ultimately be responsible for the very mindset that perpetuates prejudice, personal bias, anti-feminist/militant views, etc. in the first place. In short, I think it is very possible for people to be quite unaware of the very real prejudices, personal bias, anti-feminist/militant views, etc. that they themselves hold/uphold, in that these negative beliefs/percpetions often exist deep within the subconscious/unconscious mind.
Again, I'm going to continue on in an additional post, as your OP contains a great deal of subject matter. Great OP btw! Extremely interesting!
Yes, earlier in this thread I stated that I was posting about career-only ambition and not broader life ambitions (it's a huge thread, I don't expect that you've read the whole thing).
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'Do you personally think that *your* WOH status is required in order for you to be considered equal to your husband (whom I am assuming WOH)? If so, why?"
Yes.
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I'll admit it, it would bug me to lose a position to someone who SAH for years and years.
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<> Where is it "peanuts?" I live in a very high COL area, and by no means is it "peanuts." In my area it would be enough and I live in one of the most expensive counties in the northeast.
Agreed.
Karen
"Veronica: "I hate fake deer too. Every time I see their stupid fake-deer faces I want to grab a shotgun and go all Cheney on 'em." Sure, but since fake deer don't talk, they won't
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