Childlessness and Women Managers: 'Choice', Context and Discourses

Abstract

Childlessness is increasing and might reflect acceptance of diversity, scope for individual choice and a creative 'social imaginary' about being feminine without being a mother. Childlessness also appears to have a contextual manifestation arising from the recognition that the long-hours work culture in many organizations does not support appropriate parenting. A qualitative study of Australian managers reveals the contradictory discourses of childlessness around enlightened equality, maternalism, an elusive, ideal 'work-life balance' and individualism. The article explores a contextually nuanced, dynamic, generative theory of agency which does not hinge on the mother-child dyad, in explaining women managers' choices to remain childless.

Sickness absence as an interactive process: Gendered experiences of young, highly educated women with mental health problems

“…Highly educated mothers first dedicate themselves to starting a career, and on average, have their first child at the age of 33 [29]. Obviously, being a mother still plays an important role in the definition of Dutch womanhood, whereas male norms still dominate in organizations [30,31]. In the case of highly educated employees, this norm is working long full-time hours, and excludes care responsibilities.…”

“…For instance, being single is a risk factor for work disability in both genders, but childless women living with a partner have the highest burnout risk in the Netherlands [8]. In a Dutch study of lawyers aged [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35], no gender differences were found in job demands and control or their relationship to mental health, yet women reported more psychological health problems. This was found to be related to the women's lower self-esteem and the increased importance women placed on certain aspects of the organizational culture such as relationships with colleagues and supervisors [9].…”

“The Price You Pay”: How Female Professional Chefs Negotiate Work and Family

“…If you want to be successful, you'll do it.'' Again, the rhetoric of ''choice'' de-emphasizes more problematic structural barriers contained in gendered occupations (for critiques of choice rhetoric, see [28,47,60,61,65,66]). …”

“…Research further suggests even if programs are available, they may be under utilized by female workers who feel pressure to show commitment to their careers [24,30,31,50,66]. This may be manifested through formal channels, such as supervisors' refusal to allow workers to switch to part-time schedules [31,61], or through subtle messages about organizational culture that reinforce the idea that ''high flyers'' do not take advantage of policies that reduce their work hours [50].…”

“…Women may also face more negative outcomes due to this imbalance, such as higher rates of depression and anxiety [37,38,57]. Work-family conflict can affect the retention rates and career outcomes of employed mothers (for a review of this literature, see [25]) and, among childless employed women, pressures to devote oneself to work may lead to decisions to forgo childbearing [5,59,66].…”