You Don't Have to Choose Between Children and a Career

For years, many women have felt that they have to face a tough decision that men haven’t necessarily even had to think about: whether to pursue a career or build a family. Women’s fertility tends to begin to decline around the age of thirty, but by this age, many of us either haven’t yet secured the job that we want or have only just started and want to establish ourselves within our position before taking maternity leave. This is definitely a difficult position to find yourself in, but it’s also extremely important that it isn’t necessarily a binary choice. If you want to pursue a career and do not intend to have children, that’s absolutely fine. If you want to pursue familial goals and aren’t interested in a career in the slightest, that’s your choice too and is also absolutely fine. If you want both, not to worry. You can have the best of both worlds! Here’s a little more information for anyone who’s interested in pursuing a career and building a family at the same time.

You Have Rights

Many women worry that they may not be able to land a particular position if they admit that they intend to have children in the future. It is important to remember that you have rights and it is illegal for an employer or potential employer to be prejudiced against you if you intend to have children or if you become pregnant while you are working for them. They have to provide maternity pay and you cannot lose your position simply because you are having a child. You can learn more about your rights here.

You Can Put Off Having Children

While your fertility levels are likely to start to decline around the age of thirty, and while this process does tend to rapidly speed up from the age of thirty five onwards, it’s important to remember that there are options out there for women who wish to have children later in life. The average age for a woman to have children is increasing in many countries, and there are women around the world who have had children well into their sixties. Medical advances have made it so that many women can have children later in life. One option available to women is the option to freeze their eggs. Eggs can be taken when a woman is fertile. They are then frozen and can be thawed at a later date. An alternative is to use the services of a surrogate mother.

You Can Be the Breadwinner

Sure, in the past, men were the traditional breadwinners of a family. But times are changing for the better and equality is becoming more widespread. Just because you are intending to have a child doesn’t mean that you have to become a stay at home mom. Sure, you may have to take some time off to give birth and maybe nurse your baby for a little while. But you can head back to work and the father could take on childcare responsibilities. If you don’t have a partner, family and friends may be able to help you out with childcare, or you can always use professional childcare services.

Encourage Change

As you can see, many women face problems and feel that they have to make the choice between having children and pursuing a career because of the way that society works. Many feel that their professional positions can be compromised if they choose to have a family. This isn’t a choice that many men have to make and this goes to show that there is still gender-based equality in the working world (there are other problems in this field – this is just one). If you feel strongly about this, you should consider campaigning for change. This can help to endorse change and remove this problem, so that it isn’t something that we even have to worry about in the future!

Hopefully, the above information has helped you to see that there are option out there for women who want to have a family at the same time as pursuing the career of their dreams. Implement them into your lifestyle to benefit from the best of both worlds!