87% of women feel children put them at disadvantage

Things have been a bit quiet on the blogging front lately; partly because I've been concentrating on getting the Technical Change programme up and running, and partly because I found out at Christmas that I'm pregnant.

Of course this is *thrilling* news but while having a baby is a really fantastic way to fully realise the issues facing many women at mid-career level in the industry (call it 'method' project management), it's also a shock to the system, physically and mentally, and the lethargy and confusion that sets in can hold you back a bit.

I'm moved to write by the publication this week of Broadcast/WFTV's "Women in Broadcasting Survey" which found, among other rather depressing stuff, that a whopping 87% of women felt that having children or other dependents puts them at a disadvantage in the broadcast industry (see Feature Editor Emily Booth's summary) . This compared to just 13% of women who felt having dependents would hold MEN back. As Emily Booth and others have commented, evidence like this shows that true equality could still be a long way off.

Interestingly, only 22% of the survey's respondents (1000+ women) said they actually had children, with many saying they were worried/scared/too over-worked to even think about becoming mothers.

One figure I'd have issue with was the finding that only 35% of women claimed to have experienced difficulties when returning to work after taking a break to have children. This figure must surely be skewed because a good chunk of those who HAD experienced difficulties would no doubt have given up the ghost and opted for a complete change of career rather than fight to be re-accepted into an industry that is intrinsically skewed against them.

Sadly there was no breakdown showing how conditions for women working in the technical grades compare to others, but I suspect the childcare/dependants issue is probably even more acute for women working in these areas. What do others think?