Career Detours
This week’s Yahoo column is about on-ramping and off-ramping in the workforce. Both men and women leave jobs at various times during their careers, but for different reasons. Forty-five percent of women report off-ramping for child care, another 24 percent to care for an elderly relative, and 32 percent because their partner’s income was sufficient, according to Sylvia Anne Hewlett’s new book, “Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success.”
Among men, 29 percent leave their jobs to change careers and 25 percent to earn advanced degrees; just 12 percent cited “time for children” as the reason they left their jobs. Hewlett also surveyed men about how they felt about their wife leaving the workforce. While 60 percent said they were enthusiastically supportive, another 55 percent said they were either envious or angry. Almost one-quarter of male respondents worried about the financial implications of their wife’s decision to quit.
Hewlett says work-life balance has become more difficult for both sexes. “It’s gotten harder to do everything at the same time, because the work model has gotten more onerous,” Hewlett told me. “The extreme job phenomenon, with the 73-hour workplace and 24/7 client demands, working in multiple time zones – that’s not going to go away any time soon, because it’s driven by globalization and technology and fiercer competition.”
Relying on anecdotal evidence, the media has focused on women choosing to off-ramp to care for children, when many would prefer flexible work to leaving altogether. Case in point: Three researchers at University of California, Hasting College of Law examined 119 media stories about the opt-out revolution. They found the media “focuses overwhelmingly on the lives of professional/managerial women, who comprise only about 8 percent of American women; they pinpoint the pull of family life as the main reason why women quit, whereas a recent study showed that 86 percent of women cite workplace pushes (such as inflexible jobs) as a key reason for their decision to leave; gives an unrealistic picture of how easy it will be for women to re-enter the workforce; and virtually always focuses on women in one situation: after they leave the workforce and before they are divorced, which is unrealistic in a country with a 50 percent divorce rate.”
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May 14th, 2007 at 11:34 am
I really enjoyed this article, and I wanted to let you know, because so many of the comments on Yahoo! were ugly.
I enjoy most of your articles, and as a financial planner working from home with elementary age children, there is so much wisdom and usable info in your articles.
I am sorry that so many women feel that they have no choices when it comes to their work situations. I admit to being highly educated, and being on my fourth career by choice!
Please know that those who got something out of the article may be so busy that they didn’t take time to refute the opinions of others.
Best,
JennyM
May 18th, 2007 at 8:41 am
I wanted to second ‘JennyM’s comments. This is the first and possibly only time I’ve ever written a response to a blog but I too wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your writing and insights.
I am an engineer with an at-home spouse and near-college age children. I too worry/dread the financial implications that the loss of her income has meant to us. It is an awesome responsibility to consider that everything we have – house, cars, private school tuition, medical care, depends on my ‘aerospace’ job.
Please do continue on with your good work.
Mike
Hi Mike — Thanks for writing. I agree; my husband and I have both played the breadwinner and it’s not easy. (We’ve both also been the stay-at-home parent, and that wasn’t easy either!) Seeing both sides of life has made us both more understanding. And we’re both pretty frugal, which helps reduce the financial pressure on the breadwinner. Good luck!