From here to maternity

Hello again; I hope that, wherever you are, you’ve had a great summer/winter, delete as appropriate.  Here in London, I’ve spotted some thought provoking messaging out there at the moment about being a mother and the impact it can have on your career.  Were I planning or hoping to have a baby in the near future, I think I’d be pretty dismayed to have read the following over the last few weeks.

• Women are being urged to test their fertility at the age of 30 –
• But those who do become pregnant and take maternity leave face bullying; a situation blamed, as is so much at the moment, on the recession;
• The Fawcett Society’s most recent report (available as a free download) carries the title “Not Having It All” - and the more chilling sub-title “How motherhood reduces women’s pay and employment prospects” and tells us that, in a nutshell, pregnancy and motherhood makes women vulnerable to discrimination, pay disparities and an enhanced risk of unemployment.
• So it’s hardly surprising that the always-on-the-case Glass Hammer website has picked up on this and run an interesting and highly relevant story on professional women choosing to remain childless. As the article points out: “Based on what we know, why would successful women continue choosing to have children if the detriments to their career are so unavoidable and widespread?” 

With my global hat on, I can’t help thinking that if the situation is this bad in the UK and the USA, two countries which do at least have some level of protective legislation in place, then what must it be like elsewhere?  The Fawcett Society is calling for new policy responses to reduce the impact of motherhood on a woman’s earnings. Four priority areas emerge from their report and, whilst the recommendations are primarily aimed at governments, I also think that organisations could make substantive interventions around at least two of these four points – what do you think?

1. Provide mothers with the support they need to return to jobs at their previous skills levels
2. Enforce and extend the law to protect pregnant women and women on maternity leave
3. Create substantially more part-time work in higher paid occupations
4. Tackle the low pay that exists in sectors primarily employing women.

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times and the man who shared the phrase “Lehman Sisters” with the world via his “Mistresses of the universe” op-ed column earlier this year has a new co-authored book entitled ““Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide” out in a few weeks’ time, in which he states that:

“The world is awakening to a powerful truth: Women and girls aren’t the problem; they’re the solution.”

By the mere fact of your reading this blog entry, you are likely to agree with his words; let’s hope that the increasing pressure of voices like Mr Kristof’s starts to create some momentum for women everywhere, be they our corporate sisters in New York and London or our sisters working to change their live via micro-credit in Pakistan.

This is my last Gender Agenda entry, as I am, after eight years with PwC and three with the Gender Advisory Council, moving on at the end of my secondment to the GAC.  I am not quite sure as yet what my future holds, other than that I know that I will continue to work in some kind of global gender diversity related capacity; once you’ve found your passion, it’s hard to let go!  I have very much appreciated the last three years with the Council and I hope that my successor will enjoy the people and the challenges as much as I have.  You’ll be meeting her on a future blog entry and I know she’s looking forward to continuing sharing, via the Gender Agenda, the details of PwC’s award winning and ground breaking work to support our women.

Thanks for being a great audience and for sharing the journey with me –

Cleo