I wasn’t really bothered about sexism until I had my son. When I returned to work 3 days a week I was genuinely surprised and confused to find myself overlooked and excluded from projects and meetings I would ordinarily have been involved in. When I realised what was going on, I started looking around for other jobs, only to find that there were no part-time professional jobs out there in the job market. I could have applied for a full time position and perhaps negotiated a 4 day week but I really wanted 3 days so I could be there for my son. I have since gone self employed which has worked really well for me but all the mums at school have the same problem and have either given up their career, are stuck in the company they worked for pre-children with no pay rises or promotions since, or are doing other, more flexible work, which is poorly paid. This situation is also sexist against men. Most of the dads I speak to don’t want to be the pressure of being the sole breadwinner and want to be more involved in parenting but don’t have the option to go part-time or choose not to because they know it will impact negatively on their career. This is a ridiculous waste of resource, is a barrier to good parenting and is blatantly sexist! It takes a man and a woman to have a child, it is not just the responsibility of women to raise the next generation and it really pisses me off when female single parents get a bad rap – are we missing the rather blatant fact the father is nowhere to be seen. Contraception is not just the responsibilty of women!
