The vast majority (around 80 per cent) of the women who took our recent Child Care and Workforce Participation survey¹ were working in some capacity - either full time (45 per cent), part time (30 per cent) or self employed (5 per cent).
Our survey showed however, that while 13 per cent of the mums currently not working actively chose to stay at home to be with their children, 20 per cent would have returned to work, but could not find a job. A further 10 per cent said they weren't working due to their employer's lack of flexibility, and 8 per cent couldn't find child care, which is all a shocking waste of talent for the Australian workforce.
Are these mums really unemployable? Are they too picky? Do they ask too much of their employers? These are the sorts of questions many mums find themselves asking, when six months after they'd like to have returned to work, they're still looking and feeling less and less employable.
Of course self-esteem and confidence also take a massive knock when you've been off with a new baby for six months, so combined with what's going on with our body and mind, the perceived lack of suitable jobs for new mums can sometimes be completely soul destroying. And frankly it doesn't get better over time either. The longer you're out of work, the harder it is to get back in.
And while child care centres are open 7 till 6 and do give some hope of a normal working day, then school comes along and the working day gets around four hours shorter!
The dilemma:
We want to work, to feel like we still have our brains and our careers or are contributing, but we want to be there for our kids at the same time. Mother guilt is a very strong emotion and babies and small children are very good at pulling on our heartstrings.
So the need for work and mummy time means we ideally want part time work, a convenient job share situation or at the very least to have flexible working hours.
Part time jobs are like gold dust. And have you ever looked for school-based jobs that require term-time only. Platinum dust!!! These jobs are the most sought after jobs on the planet! There are definite advantages to being a teacher, if you can survive the terms, that is!
Almost a third of the working mums we polled said they were working part time, so the opportunities are definitely out there, but clearly not quite enough to go round.
Of course some jobs simply don't suit part time or job share, but realistically these types of jobs should be getting fewer and fewer with new technologies and a shift in the way we view traditional working.
The alternative to part time is flexi time and employers are still falling behind although getting much better. With ten per cent of out of work mums stating employer's lack of flexibility, there are clearly some employers out there who don't value working mums as much as they could.
Most employers could easily help their valuable female employees by offering flexi hours/days, job share where appropriate and home-based working, at least every now and then if not on a regular basis.
If not, what sort of message is this giving to women who want to have a family, but don't want to give up their careers? It's basically saying, tough luck ladies… you can't have both.
But you can. If you've not managed to find a job yet, chin up. The opportunities are out there. You might have to change tack, retrain, re-think or do something totally different. This is the perfect time to reassess your career to date and what you want for the future. Your happiness is going to be extremely important from now on.
Because a happy mum makes a happy family.
Take action!
- Get someone in your industry to review your CV. Sometimes you need an objective pair of eyes.
- Network! Get talking. It's amazing how many part time and golden opportunities come up purely by word of mouth. Some of the best jobs NEVER get advertised.
- Retrain. If you've had dreams of an alternative career path you wish you'd have taken, now's the time to follow your dream. Look at distance learning courses and check out courses offered by your local TAFE.
- Believe in yourself and your newly acquired skills. You are valuable. Mums are brilliant multi-taskers, time managers, diplomats, jugglers and people managers. They are also way more efficient than your average singleton who nips out for cigarettes, coffees, lunches, social media, internet browsing etc. Mums know their time is precious, so they get their head down and do their job.
- Become a "Mumpreneur"! You don't necessarily have to have loads of cash to start a business. You just have to have a good idea, grit, passion and determination! Some of the most successful mumpreneurs work from home with minimum outlay and overheads. And Mumpreneurs are fast becoming the Richard Bransons of the noughties!
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