A huge nine out of 10 working women believe that female colleagues with children receive better treatment than them and resent the flexible hours and time off mothers have, indicating that HR professionals need to do more to level the playing field.
Moreover, a third of working women without offspring think that working mothers use their children simply as an excuse to get off work, while the same number of female directors believe they are less productive.
These are the findings of ‘The Women and Work Survey 2010’ undertaken among 2,000 women with an average age of 36 by Grazia magazine. Some 41% of the sample were married, 19% were single, nearly half had children and 61% were either managers or of professional status.
But the study also revealed that, at a time of widespread redundancies, nearly a third of women were now the main breadwinners in their household, with 30% earning more than their partners and 19% earning the same amount.
The figures contrast with official figures released earlier this year by the Office of National Statistics, which indicated that full-time female workers typically earn about 20% less than their male counterparts, with men receiving on average £531 per week before tax and women only £426.
In a significant shift in traditional attitudes, however, two out of five female workers said that the career of whichever partner received the highest income should now take precedence, with one in ten families seeing women work full-time while their partners acted as house-husbands.
Jane Bruton, the editor of Grazia, said: “We’re in the middle of a huge social shift. Women are increasingly earning as much or more than their partners and many of these women get a great amount out of their working lives. For many of these high earners, it makes more sense for their partners to take on a greater domestic role. There are going to be mixed feelings about this, but it is becoming more accepted.”
As for working mothers, two thirds of this group indicated that they wanted to continue working after having children. Around 67% already work either full- or part-time, with three out of five believing that the better they performed in their career, the better mother they became. Only 11% of women said that they were keen to stop work completely.
Mothers in their 30s were the most likely group to set up their own business, while half of women in full-time employment said that their work made them feel ‘worthwhile’ and ‘confident’.
