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The Seattle Times Company representing the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
NWjobs | NWautos | NWhomes | NWapartments | NWsource | Classifieds | seattlepi.com | seattletimes.com
So many articles and studies about women supposedly opting out, in, under, and around the workforce have crossed my desk in recent years that I've pretty much stopped paying attention. But this month, a study announced by the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley caught my eye, mainly because its findings seemed so surprisingly, well, retro.
In polling 1,000 Harvard undergrad alumni (classes of 1988 through 1991) who were now married mothers in their late thirties, researchers found that "fifteen years after graduating from Harvard College, 28 percent of the women who went on to get MBAs were stay-at-home moms." However, just 6 percent of Harvard grads who went on to become MDs stopped working outside the home, and 21 percent of Harvard grads who earned their JDs stopped working outside the home.
Curious about the discrepancy, I called up Catherine Wolfram, associate professor at Haas School of Business and co-author of the study.
Were these MBAs turned stay-at-home moms working part-time, freelance, or as mompreneurs? I wondered.
Wolfram assured me they were not drawing any income whatsoever.
Then perhaps the lawyers and doctors had bigger student loans to pay off than their MBA counterparts?
But that wasn't it either, Wolfram said; most of the respondents had husbands with big incomes. In fact, 42 percent of the women polled had husbands with the same graduate degree as they'd earned. (Curiously, the study found that women who met their spouse at business school were much more likely to drop out of the workforce than women who met their spouse at medical or law school. I'll let you draw your own conclusions there.)
Instead, Wolfram suspected that lack of family-friendly workplaces in the business sector were to blame for the higher MBA opt-out rate. While doctors can go into private practice, she explained, the business sector often calls for "long hours and heavy travel."
But, "We're not looking at their whole life," she said of those MBAs turned stay-at-home moms. "They might go back to work 5 to 10 years later."
Of course, for the rest of us working stiffs all this conjecture about why some of the upper crust bows out of the workforce and some does not is moot:
A study published in the June issue of the American Sociological Review found that "less than 8 percent of professional women born since 1956 leave the workforce for a year or more during their prime childbearing years." In addition, "more professional Generation X mothers of young children were working full-time year-round than their counterparts in any previous generation." And for Gen X moms with kids ages 6 to 18, "full-time employment is the norm."
Probably because it's a rare woman who can afford to opt out of working for an employer these days.
Freelance writer Michelle Goodman is the author of "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube." E-mail her at ninetothrive@nwjobs.com.
By Kerri on July 22, 2008 9:11 PM
I'm a stay-at-home mom by choice. My husband doesn't make gobs of money, but we also don't have a huge family, and by choosing to stay home I've had the time and impetus to figure out creative ways to stretch our money farther.
I think that at least in the United States, it's a question of where a woman's preferences and priorities lie. There are certainly married career women who work because they must, but there are also married career women who work because they prefer to--they really don't want to stay home with the kids. I'm not trashing that desire; there's nothing wrong with admitting you prefer the challenges and the adult interaction of the workplace to raising kids. In fact, I think if women who desire to work were more honest about it, there wouldn't be so many articles and studies attempting to figure out the working mom phenomenon. The point is that for me, the most important thing is spending time with my family; they're more important to me than any job.
I could split my time between work and home, but I don't believe in trying to do it all; one or both jobs would suffer as a consequence. So I've specialized, and I've never regretted it.
By Deb on July 22, 2008 10:52 PM
Why the assumption that women in child-bearing years will be having children? What if a woman were to find more interesting work to do outside the cube that did NOT involve children? Todays business environment is dissatisfying because it lacks opportunities for creative expression, and places too much emphasis on growth and profit. Life should be more than what we earn, or the size of the company where we put our efforts. The greater good could be served, with all else secondary.
By Katherine on July 23, 2008 2:22 PM
People with MBAs are unlikely to work normal, 9-5 jobs, so it's very hard for a couple to maintain two professional jobs and also raise a family. Inevitably the woman is the one to quit - she makes 70-80% of a man's salary and has societal pressure to be the primary parent. But for the rest of us, it is possible to balance work and family. I think more moms should stop feeling guilty about working (do dads feel guilty?) and just focus on being as great a mom and employee as they can: http://workingmoms.about.com/od/todaysworkingmoms/a/workguilt.htm
By Sandy on July 25, 2008 3:13 PM
Has she been to the Eastside of Seattle? Who are all of those women driving around doing who knows what during the day? In my circle of friends I know many many stay at home microsoft wives.
My own doc stopped practicing in order to be with her girls. My best friend is the art docent (ie doesn't work) at her kids school and when you go to pick her son up there are at least 40 other parents standing around. Greenlake area.
By Dr. Susan Biali, M.D. on July 25, 2008 5:02 PM
I found the discrepancy between MBA holders and M.D.'s to be interesting. I "opted" out of "regular" practice in late 2004, but thankfully as an M.D. it's very easy for me to get part-time shifts whenever I want, in clinics (I'm from Vancouver, Canada). In fact, in 2004 I moved my personal and professional base to Mexico, where I developed sideline careers as a writer, life coach, speaker and flamenco dancer! All the way through, I kept practicing medicine in Vancouver on an extremely part-time basis (sometimes only several days a year), whenever I found that I needed to. Perhaps doctors have more flexible options with respect to very part-time work? In community private practice we don't have "bosses", so to speak, and general female physicians/family doctors are in high demand at all times. We can also do "locum" (substitute doctor) work. So, we don't have to worry about a glass ceiling, or that someone won't hire us because we've taken some time off or are only working very part-time. It's a Canadian perspective, but perhaps relevant to the States as well?
By Michelle Goodman on July 25, 2008 5:38 PM
Dr. Biali,
The author of the study told me she does indeed think that the discrepancy between MBAs and MDs is due to more workplace flexibility for MDs, less for MBAs. Thanks for sharing your perspective -- all of you.
-Michelle
By Bo on July 26, 2008 3:34 PM
In my experience, two-income families are more often driven by greed than anything else. To most people in America today, money is simply more important than happy children.
By Lauren on July 28, 2008 4:22 AM
I agree with the idea that business people travel more and are constrained by project work that demands longer hours. While many doctors and lawyers work as much or more than business people, there are better part-time options for docs and lawyers.
Before I had kids, I was a project manager at a consulting firm. My husband is a doctor who works days, nights and weekends. My job had me on the road three days a week and we lived in a town (for his job) with no family. I quit when I was pregnant because there was no way to manage both of our schedules without nighttime hired help. Having someone watch our kids 24/7 defeated the purpose of having them in the first place.
By Jennifer on July 28, 2008 11:09 AM
"Working outside the home" and "raising children" are not mutually exclusive ideas. They aren't for men; any businessman can proudly say, "I've raised four kids" as part of his retirement dinner speech, and no one would bat an eyelash, just applaud. It's just assumed that a man can work outside the home, while still being a father to his children. Why the double standard, still, after all these years? Yes, I am working; and I am also raising my child. I don't "prefer" one to the other: they are both integral to who I am.
By RalphF on July 28, 2008 11:54 PM
Hmmm...I looked at the statistics and immediately thought to myself, "this makes sense to me". I don't see the reason for all of the confusion about "why". As a Top 5 school MBA holder married to another Tob 5 MBA holder, I believe I am semi-qualified to say that an MBA is relatively easy to get (compared to an MD) and requires less committment to a future path. In many ways, an MBA is just a nice add on package to your set of professional skills (and it only takes 1-2 years to get).
An MD on the other hand, requires 4+ postgraduate years, and it appears to me, a very solid committment to one's path. I imagine most wouldn't go down that path without a firm resolve to see it through.
On JD's (3 years), it would be interesting to see this statistic over the last decade. Practicing law has become remarkably less interesting and sexy over the last few years(tons of online law blogs will attest to the apparent modern misery of this profession). I would conjecture that the number would have been much lower 10 years ago than the 21% figure today (all else being equal).
By Izzy on July 29, 2008 1:43 AM
In my experience, most two-income families need both incomes to get by, especially in bigger cities where the cost of living is high. And in many cases, the woman continues to work because...SHE ACTUALLY ENJOYS HER JOB. What a concept. This does not mean she does not love her children, and certainly does not mean that her children are not happy.