(1888PressRelease)
September 26, 2007 - Women without children are less sympathetic than men to a colleague who is a mother and juggling home and work commitments, research reveals today (Wednesday September 19).
57 per cent of mothers said that childless women colleagues were less understanding of the demands facing them than men in the office, the report for The Family Care Company found.
The Working Mothers’ Report also found that 52 per cent of working Mums found it easier to blame a faulty alarm clock or heavy traffic than admitting that childcare problems had made them late.
The research found 94 per cent of mothers said juggling home and office life impacted on their career. However, only 31 per cent said the dual demands of work and family had an impact on a father’s careers.
Despite the Government’s promise to encourage a better work/life balance 66 per cent of working mothers said pushing for flexible working that they knew an employer could accommodate, such as working from home or taking different hours, would have a negative effect on their careers.
The report, which surveyed 1500 working mothers, also reveals that 37 per cent of mothers applying for a job have been asked about family commitments during their interview. 13 per cent said they had even delayed having children, even though they wanted them, because they felt their employer would disapprove.
Ben Black, founder of The Family Care Company, said that the research found it was not only employers but also colleagues who failed to understand the pressures of juggling home and family life.
“It is clear that working mothers face a big challenge to juggle home and work life. You would expect support, if not from all employers then at least from the people they work alongside, but we found that often this was not happening and surprisingly it was women without children who were the least sympathetic.
“Many of the women that mothers work alongside will go on to have children, and you would have expected them to be more understanding. However there can be a lot of competition and jealousy in the workplace, and some women might see it as an advantage in their career that they do not have children and a demanding home life.”
Ben founded The Family Care Company following the birth of his two-year-old twins. Despite employing a nanny Ben and his wife found they had to take time off work to cover holidays and sickness. The award winning service offers a range of services to both employers and employees. This includes emergency childcare through www.emergencychildcare.co.uk advice lines and childcare experts who search out nannies and nurseries. Many companies fund the services for staff as an employee benefit.
He added: “It is also worrying that a faulty alarm clock or heavy traffic is seen as a more acceptable reason for being late than having problems with childcare. It shows that many mothers are trying their best to hide the everyday problems working parents have”.
