Balancing Between Motherhood And Career Sociology Essay

In development countries women’s status has changed over the past few years. More and more women are forced to make decision between choosing a career or stay at home with the child. Are there possibilities to combine motherhood and business ambitions?  Now women are working on equal rights, and even take more and more leading positions in business. But often the cost of choosing career is becoming unstable personal life or even lack of it. Sometimes the price of success is the rejection of motherhood or later motherhood. What drives women to choose careers in the first place? Why do they leave their children at home a month after birth and have to come back to work? The main reason of course is that women try to become independent of men, as well as for fear of not finding a right partner for the marriage. That is why many women prefer to choose a career in first place before having a child because of financial and living conditions. In conclusion, financial government support plays a very important role in choosing a career immediately after birth.

Many women in recent years prefer choosing career than a family, trying to get independence of men and even husbands. Twenty years ago, the role of women was the childbirth and their education, and the role of men was to get money for his family. Now women are eager to get good education, get leader positions in a business and even open their own business. Also, the family budget consists of woman and man contribution now, and, very often, woman’s contribution of money to the family is even more than man.  This aspect is often underestimates the role of man in family relationships. In the modern world there are more and more families where women play a significant role in the contribution of money of the development of the family. Women, who choose career in first place, begin first steps into their target even before get married. Work takes almost all free time and that is why there is no time to think about family. Based on the historical data “the childbearing histories of women who were childless at age 30 assessing the impact of education and employment on their decision to either become mothers or remain childless …. These women’s intentions attitudes will be influenced by their educational and career goals” (journal …). Therefore, they often have to refuse the motherhood for several years, or just have no choices except to leave their children with baby sitters, grandparents, or even fathers, changing the role of mother and father in the family. Therefore, very often many women think about whether they have children or a career.

The second reason is that women are realizing that finding a reliable father is not so easy. All women want to give their child the best education and best future that is why, father’s support play the main role in relationship too. Unfortunately, “Many women have not met the right partner to have a child with” (Reflection). Therefore, the main goal for woman is get financial stability in her life for raising and education of a child before even have a baby. Finally, because of uncertainty in a partner and future family life with him, woman often begins think about her own career. And sometimes this uncertainty can leads to single mom. “As single mothers were less prevalent than couple mothers as well as being less likely to be employed than couple mothers” (mother’s work) that is why single women think about their career beforehand. The fact is that if woman decides to be single mother she has to have financial independence before have a child, because raise a child alone is more difficult especially because of full or part-time work.

Many women are forced to come back to work in couple weeks after give birth due to lack of money and a fear of losing their jobs. Government doesn’t give enough consideration to women who have just had newborn baby. During World War II mothers had more opportunities for rising of their children. They even received money for “Landry service and packaged hot diners” (resource) and other different benefits. In our century, government has signed “governmental protection for workers with new babies … which guaranties just 12 weeks of unpaid leave to those who work for employers 50 or more workers” (mother load). Furthermore, these benefits are provided only to federal workers. But under the new law, this period has been shortened to six weeks (mother load). Lack of money, many mothers are forced to come back to work in one month after childbirth. That is why, mother cannot give enough attention to her baby, and some of them are forced to hire a babysitter. In spite of money spending for babysitter, it’s the best way for woman to keep her place at work. Many companies prefer not hiring mothers with babies in order to save money. And also companies “reduce women’s hourly wages” (is there …) if they extend their leave period with babies. It happens because taking care about a woman during leaving period is expensive for companies as well as spending money to additional courses after returning to her position at work after a long period. In some cases woman can even lost her previous job position after childbirth.  All these reasons lead to the fact that many women trying to think about their job instead time spending with their children.

In the 21th century women very often postpone childbearing until thirty in favor of personal freedom and getting the financial stability. What is the right age to have a child? Women choose two different ways between become mother or get good job in first place. Some women are driven by wish to have a child in early age. Unfortunately, not every woman has financial support and even education by twenty five years. Most often this choice of motherhood in first place at an early age when the last thing woman thinks about is her career and also financial support from the child’s father. Mother spends more time with her baby. In a while the financial aspect becomes a major problem of buying any stuff for a child and also for paying bills. As a result, it pushes a woman to work in low-paying places to keep the child in proper way, especially if the child’s father financial support is not enough or if it’s single mother. Especially difficult to get a promotion at career growth, if the woman has no education or has no work experience after graduation from school or college, and not enough time to work full-time because of a small baby.

The second type of women are women who choose career and financial stability in first place more often give birth after thirty years. For these women it is much easier to make a career and get independence of financial support. Therefore, when a woman decides to have a baby she need to be sure in “affordable nursery care and career breaks need to be more readily available” (reflection). However, very important role plays a selection of a partner for a marriage; a woman need be sure that father of a baby can provide enough financial support of the family or if she has to come back to work early to help with support. Women, who are trying to combine work and childbearing, have the most difficult decision. These women usually choose part-time jobs in order to find time for their young children of full-time job but “thus mothers must contend with…own guilt for leaving their children” (motherhood 21). Unfortunately, there are also disadvantages of late childbirth. Women over thirty years old are often have a high risk of birth a child with abnormalities, miscarriages or problems to become pregnant. Particular attention doctors pay to women who give birth of first child after age thirty, because the pregnancy after twenty five is more complicated than in the early age. What is the best way to choose: to have a child in the early ages and not be sure about future career and child education; or to get financial independence and live in fear of the birth of an unhealthy child; or to combine work and education of a baby at the same time?

The problem of choice between motherhood and career is very important in our life.  When mothers think more about their career promotion, they often don’t give enough attention to their children. On the one hand, in the case of getting promotion or paying more attention to work woman is trying to get better financial support for her child. On another hand, woman needs to pay more attention of child education. That is why the better way is if mother can stay at home for one or one and a half years after birth with her child. It will help to safe money for babysitters and also child can get proper maternal care what is more important for children development. The main support should come from the government. For this reason, government should introduce benefits for the mother’s support of mothers and infants. An enterprise where woman works should not be responsible for the financial content for leaving period of the women; they just need to provide the same work position with the same wage rate after returning from leaving period with also the possibility of taking free courses to remind about work responsibilities.