Voices » HBR Voices » Sylvia Ann Hewlett » Top Jobs and Maternal Guilt
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1:53 PM Wednesday August 8, 2007
Talk about fanning the flames of guilt.
"Working mothers have fatter children" screamed a headline in the Times (London) on July 23rd, reporting on a study published by the International Journal of Obesity. The Independent added fuel to the fire, gleefully trumpeting that "the nation's highest paid working mothers bear much of the responsibility for the nation's ticking obesity time bomb."
The new research, carried out at the UCL Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, finds an association between maternal employment (particularly long hour, highly paid maternal employment) and obesity among British preschool children. The researchers are careful to point out a variety of risk factors ranging from inattentive dads to a shortage of sports programs, but these qualifications have not prevented an orgy of working mother bashing in the press. Rather than laying out the complexity of the challenge, the media simply dumps the blame on the backs of working moms.
Such guilt trips are clearly bad for women -- pumping up anxiety levels and distorting decision making. But they are also bad for employers, since they ramp up attrition rates and exacerbate the flight risk among talented women.
A study of the high end labor market (see my Harvard Business Review article "Extreme Jobs: The Dangerous Allure of the 70-Hour Workweek") demonstrates that 80% of highly qualified women in large corporations have one foot out the door -- they feel they can't cope with the demands of their jobs for more than one more year. This is not because they don't like their work or can't deal with the performance pressures -- 78% adore their jobs and thrive on the challenges associated with them. Rather, they can't deal with a mounting load of maternal guilt.
Companies have much at stake here. In a day and an age when 50% of the talent pipeline is female, employers need to get into the business of assuaging maternal guilt. Losing 80% of your key female talent can be a very expensive proposition. A first step is to create a little push back. A company-sponsored speakers series can help to set the research record straight.
A second step is to offer flexible work arrangements that allow working women to be home in the precious 5 to 8 p.m. time slot. The data is quite clear here (see Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success). When mothers are able to be with their children in the early evening hours -- even if they go back to work late at night -- they feel much more in touch with their children and much less wracked by guilt.
HARVARD BUSINESS ONLINE RECOMMENDS:
Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success (Hardcover)
Women in Business Collection: Insights for Executive Women and Their Organizations (2nd Edition)
Keeping Your Most Valuable Women in Your Workforce (Conference)
The Maternal Wall (HBR Article)
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Sylvia Ann Hewlett is an economist and the founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy where she directs the "Hidden Brain Drain"—a task force of 50 global companies committed to fully realizing female and multicultural talent. She also heads up the Gender & Policy Program at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University. She is a member of the World Economic Forum Council on the Gender Gap.
She is the author of eight critically acclaimed nonfiction books including When the Bough Breaks, Creating a Life, Off-Ramps and On-Ramps, and six Harvard Business Review articles. Her articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Financial Times, and International Herald Tribune. Her new book, Top Talent: Keeping Performance Up When Business Is Down (Harvard Business Press), will be published in October 2009.
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Comments
As a working mum, I always felt guilty when I do not have sufficient quality time with my two teenage kids. We do not have flexible hours but working additional 2 to 3 hrs almost every other day.
- Posted by Emily Foo
September 27, 2007 12:25 AM
There is a tendency among both men and women to forget themselves in their work. For such people life beyond work is secondary, if not unnecessary. This in turn affects children physically and much more psychologically, further aggravating the problem. This is a serious issue for which there is no quick-fix solution and for which both parents are responsible, not the mothers alone. So our challenge is to be creative at work, and be happy and loving parents at home. The problem is that we have been shying away from this challenge for long. To meet it, I think, we have to first recognize and encounter our boredom. It's huge task, but we have to make an attempt.
- Posted by Ramesh
September 27, 2007 12:54 PM
Hello all!
There is no simple or single solution to this problem. This problem is happening all over the developed countries and its old news! Many solutions are already available for different people in different positions and with different lifestyles. Flexible Schedules, Working at home, staggered vacations, job rotations for positions where there is more spare time... or in last case ...just a good career planning when to have kids , when to make a move in one´s career...
But Ramesh said it all: that´s individual attitude ! We need to learn how to be passionate, creative and fast in the 2 sides of our life: Personal and Professional!
Cheers,
Filipe
- Posted by Filipe Morais
October 25, 2007 9:37 AM
Question: Where does the plight of working men who want opt participate more fully in family life figure in the "opt-out/in" movement? In your opinion..I know they're out there, but the emphasis seems to be primarily on women's issues/input. Is there a forum, place, blog, ezine - whatever - that addresses those concerns?
Do men opt-out and back in for the same reasons women do?
- Posted by Dee Axelrod
December 6, 2007 10:56 PM
I am 46 and have 3 children (19, 4 and 2 years)as well as a fantastic job running a business that totally inspires me. I believe that women everywhere can create a career that truly works for them personally as well as for their families - if they trust in themselves. Every member of my family is looked after and developing well - even the daughter at Cambridge is happy, emotionally well-balanced and even inspired!
Cheers
Elva
- Posted by Elva Ainsworth
October 1, 2008 6:42 PM