Mothers On The Fast Track Analysis
1. Until recently, the idea of parenthood was not vastly different from that of motherhood. This is because parenthood affects men and women’s careers in different ways. Motherhood is associated with less prestigious careers and lower income, while fathers see little to impact of parenthood on their careers. The reason for this lies in the different ways in which society perceives motherhood and fatherhood. It is almost always understood that motherhood will become an obstacle in a woman’s career path, and in the event that a woman successfully navigates the complications of personal and professional life to excel at both, she is hailed as the exception. In Mothers on the Fast Track, authors Mary Ann Mason and Eve Mason Ekman explain that upon
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Women enter their student years with great aspirations and hopes for the future, but by the time they reach their thirties they have entered their “make-or-break” years, in which they must make some of the most difficult choices of their lives: whether to enter the fast track, have children, remain on the fast track after having children, or leave the fast track upon motherhood to find a less competitive role. In the event that women are able to remain on the fast track after having children, very few reach high, management level position, and this is due to the structure of the modern workplace. Gender discrimination still exists in the workplace, and those in management level positions, especially men, believe that hiring women is futile, because once they decide to have children, they’ll leave. While women’s struggles differ depending on which field they are in – law, medicine, business, media, etc. – they are faced with a glass ceiling that hinders their progress. Another reason for this is because in many of these careers, women approach the peak of progress at the same time as the end of their fertility …show more content…
Clearly, society sees motherhood and career progression as two mutually exclusive events – one of the two can certainly happen, but both? That seems to have remained just a dream of many women thus
Women enter their student years with great aspirations and hopes for the future, but by the time they reach their thirties they have entered their “make-or-break” years, in which they must make some of the most difficult choices of their lives: whether to enter the fast track, have children, remain on the fast track after having children, or leave the fast track upon motherhood to find a less competitive role. In the event that women are able to remain on the fast track after having children, very few reach high, management level position, and this is due to the structure of the modern workplace. Gender discrimination still exists in the workplace, and those in management level positions, especially men, believe that hiring women is futile, because once they decide to have children, they’ll leave. While women’s struggles differ depending on which field they are in – law, medicine, business, media, etc. – they are faced with a glass ceiling that hinders their progress. Another reason for this is because in many of these careers, women approach the peak of progress at the same time as the end of their fertility …show more content…
Clearly, society sees motherhood and career progression as two mutually exclusive events – one of the two can certainly happen, but both? That seems to have remained just a dream of many women thus