Demonstrate how 30 years old American women with a career (business executives, doctors, lawyers, academics) can overcome the gender inequality, their heavy schedule and important responsibilities at work in order to build a family.
Title:
“Career or babies? The 30 years women’s dilemma”
Topic:
At thirty, between a 1/3 and a 1/2 of American women that have a career (business executives, doctors, lawyers, academics) do not have children even though they yearn for it. My proposal explains how not getting equal treatment as men, heavy schedule and high responsibilities slow executive woman from having a career and a prosperous family life (getting married, have children) and propose some solutions to those problems.
Objective:
“ To demonstrate how 30 years American women with a career (business executives, doctors, lawyers, academics) can overcome the gender inequality, their heavy schedule and important responsibilities at work and build a family (getting married and have children) ”
Proposal summary:
1) Position:
At thirty, American woman have to choose between having a family and continuing their career.
2) Problem:
– They want to have children and have a career but having kids after 35 is difficult (medical reasons).
– They have to quit their job during at least one year (to start their family life) after what the companies do not always rehired them. This is a waste of talent (qualified employees) for companies.
– Women and men are not treated equally either at work (women have less chance to have a promotion) but also when it comes to get married. According to U. S. Census Bureau data, at age 28 there are four college-educated, single men for every three college-educated, single women. A decade later, the situation is radically changed. At age 38, there is one man for every three women (Hewlett, 2002).
3) Possibilities:
1. Women can have children before starting their career (before 30 years). Indeed, at 30 years old the chances of conceiving are lower than at the end of the twenties, and the risk of miscarriage or having a baby with trisomy 21 are higher. On the other hands, having children in their thirties increase the chance to have a better income and better savings than at 20 years as you could have made your place in the workplace.
2. Women can enter mentoring programs (e.g.:Cherie Blair Foundation for Women). Those programs bring together mentors and would-be executives women across the world via the internet with the aim of giving them advices (about how not being threatened at work, manage schedules)(Booth, 2013).
3. Imitate the Swedish government and push government to vote laws (e.g. force companies to rehire them after their pregnancy) that enable mothers to play a full role at home and in the workplace (Booth, 2013).
4) Proposal:
Sweden where gender equality is respected at work should inspire the US government. In this country, parents have up to 480 days of parental leave when a child is born. This way, the government makes sure that both sexes have the power and opportunities to build up a career and a family at the same time. I’m interested in getting more in details about how the Swedish government work and explains which part should be applied to the US government.
Reference:
Hewlett, S. (2002). Executive women and the myth of having it all. http://hbr.org/2002/04/executive-women-and-the-myth-of-having-it-all/ar/1. 27th Feb 2014.
Booth, C. (2013). All women should have the chance to have a family and a career. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/oct/20/cherie-booth-women-family-career. 27th Feb 2014
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