Family juggle too hard
By Dewi Cooke | theage.com.au | 09 April
Working women are delaying childbirth or opting out of parenthood altogether in an attempt to maintain balance in their lives.
A survey of nearly 12,000 Australian professionals from fields such as law, architecture, business and accounting has found that nearly one in four women are avoiding the "family" component of the work-life-family juggling act because of work pressures.
"Women are not stupid. Women, when they couldn't have it all, have started making a choice. And the choice that they've made is to wait longer and to have fewer kids," Canadian researcher Linda Duxbury said.
Professor Duxbury and fellow researcher Chris Higgins, of the University of Western Ontario, conducted the survey as part of a report for management consultants Beaton Consulting.
They found that although white-collar professionals were likely to be better placed financially to have children than other workers, many were opting for fewer children to cope with career demands.
This was true of both genders but was more evident among working women. Between 36% and 39% of women said they had not started a family because of their career, while between 19% and 24% said they had decided to have fewer children because of work pressures.
Australia's fertility rate has been declining since the 1970s and, while it has recently increased, it is still well below replacement levels of 2.1 babies for every woman.
Professor Duxbury said there was a clear economic imperative to encourage women to have children and stay in work through flexible work arrangements.
"We're moving into a situation in Australia, Canada, in the entire developed world, where for the next 20 years for every two people that retire . . . there's only one born to take their place," she said.
"This is not an issue of gender any more."
Professor Duxbury also said that failing to act meant Australia could lose female workers to countries that better accommodated working mothers.
The research also uncovered significant levels of ambivalence towards work, with around one in four of all employees surveyed reporting that they think of leaving their current job at least once a week. Those with higher levels of work-life conflict were most likely to take at least one "mental health day" off work every six months.
Particularly concerning, Professor Duxbury said, were the experiences of the so-called "sandwich generation", men and women who care for children and parents or elderly relatives.
These were the workers who reported the highest levels of work "overload", and women tended to suffer most.
Look who's stressed*
54% of lawyers
46% of accountants
42% of education and not-for-profit workers
41% of government workers
40% of IT workers
39% of engineers and architects
39% of manufacturing/trades workers
37% of defence workers
*Percentage of people with "role overload"
Source: Beaton Consulting
First published by TheAge.com.au on April 09 2008
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