Does pursuing a career make it impossible to raise a family?
As New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announces her pregnancy, Political Editor David Williamson looks at the challenge of doing well in a job and being a good parent
CONGRATULATIONS zoomed in from around the world when New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced she was expecting a baby.
This is thought to be the first time since 1990 that an elected world leader has given birth while in office. The last person to do so was Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto.
She plans to take six weeks off after the birth, handing the reins to the Deputy Prime Minister.
The announcement coincided with the publication of research showing how many of us struggle to balance the demands of work and family lives.
The latest Working Families Index found:
40% of parents contracted to work 35-36 hours per week are putting in extra hours. Almost a third work the equivalent of an extra working day a week.
Work demands are causing arguments. Nearly three out of 10 parents (28%) said work leads to arguments with their partner. It also leads to 38% of parents eating less healthily and 42% not taking enough exercise.
A third of parents said they felt burnt-out all or most of the time – with more than half saying work was the main cause of their burn-out.
Nearly half (47%) of parents and carers said work affects their ability to spend time together as a family.
For nearly four out of 10 parents (39%), work means they can’t say goodnight to their children often or all the time; and work prevents 42% helping with homework.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she hoped the New Zealand PM’s announcement would “demonstrate to young women that holding leadership positions needn’t be a barrier to having children (if you want to)”.
But the findings of the Working Families Index demonstrate the challenges that parents working in all fields can encounter when trying to do their best for their children and for their employer. There is deep concern about family finances. The index revealed:
More than half (52%) of parents said it is becoming financially more difficult to raise a family.
More than a third (36%) said did not have the time or money they need for their family to “thrive”.
15% of parents said they have had to increase their working time to bolster their family’s income.
Nearly one in five (17%) had deliberately stalled their careers for family reasons.
Carolyn Harris, the Labour MP for Swansea East, congratulated Ms Ardern on his pregnancy and saluted her on her plan to be back in the job after six weeks.
She said: “I admire the fact that she thinks she’s going to be able to return back in six weeks and I hope if that’s what she wants to do that she’s able to do it,” noting that “babies come with their own problems and sleepless nights and early mornings and general fatigue”.
Commenting on the long hours that people in the UK are now working at the expense of family time, she said: “Austerity has played a part in so many people’s lives now and I also think a lot of companies are able to put pressure on employees simply because people are so desperate to keep their jobs that they are prepared to do so much more than maybe they are contracted to do. Everybody wants to be a good employee, everybody wants to prove that they are indispensable.
“Unfortunately, in reality nobody is indispensable... I’m the worst person to say this because I would work 24 hours a day if I had to but as individuals we want to be successful at everything; we want to be brilliant parents, we want to be superb employers, good employees – and unfortunately that means we have to go so much further and we give up our own personal time...
“My family time is nowhere near as much as I’d want it to be but when I do get it, it’s precious.”
Ms Harris, who enjoys watching films with her husband and their teenage son Tomas, said: “I’m an avid knitter... We’re not ones for going out; we are ones for staying in, and I think that’s because of my job – if I’m not working and I haven’t got to be out I want my pyjamas on and I want to be able to sit nice and cosy.”
Father-of-three Jonathan Edwards is Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP. He approves of a French law intended to give people the right not to check their work emails when they are at home.
He said: “One of the dangers of modern technology and modern communication is you wake up in the morning reading your work emails, and you go to bed reading your work emails, and obviously that’s very unhealthy and it has a huge impact on your work-life balance...
“We’re in great danger [of a situation] where human beings work for the economy as opposed to the economy working for people. Those are two very different things.”
Mr Edwards also admires the New Zealand PM’s decision to take six weeks off.
He said: “Being a politician, obviously, is a hugely important job and being a government minister is the pinnacle of that profession but the most important job we have as human beings is caring for our loved ones and our children in particular... There’s a huge role for government at all levels and employers to ensure people are able to perform the most important function in their life.”
Maria Miller, the Bridgend-raised chair of Westminster’s Women and Equalities Committee, wants to see action to make flexible working a real option.
She said: “If business fails to act then the Government needs to be prepared to legislate to make it a legal requirement for all jobs to be advertised as flexible from day one, unless there are solid business reasons not to. The research shows that the ‘father working full-time’ model is still the norm and fathers are not being supported by workplace policies to share childcare responsibilities equally.
“This has a knock-on impact on women’s ability to participate in the labour market fully and fuels the gender pay gap.”
The Working Families Index is based on responses from 2,761 people, of whom 251 were in Wales.
Jonathan Swan, head of research, said: “What we need to do is to take this chance to make positive changes to the way work works for families, with flexibility baked in to jobs to help parents to combine earning and caring.”