Working Mothers Quit Work to Avoid Behaving Like Men

 A latest research paper claims that middle class working mothers quit work in order to avoid behaving like men.

Just in time for the International Women's Day 2014, a study by researchers at University of Leicester revealed the overriding masculine culture at workplaces after interviewing 26 professional mothers based in London who quit their jobs.

Mothers working in professional and managerial jobs are most often expected to stay late or report at work early despite negotiating for reduced working hours. Apart from this, they are also expected to socialize with colleagues or clients in the evenings, which at most times clashes with their childcare responsibilities. This they feel is because the working culture continues to be organized by the males, who are less involved in childcare.

To this, most of the mothers respond by leaving their jobs.

"Unless mothers mimic successful men, they do not look the part for success in organisations", says the paper, written by Emma Cahusac, series producer of BBC Television's 'The Culture Show' and Shireen Kanji, Senior Lecturer in Work and Organisation at the University of Leicester School of Management.

The women interviewed in this study had quit their jobs while pregnant, or following their return to work, but before their child entered school age. Twenty one percent of the mothers quit jobs voluntarily, as they were sidelined on return to office.

Most of the mothers interviewed found it difficult to manage work and motherhood together mainly because of the notion of presenteeism: notion of being at desk until late. The study researchers noticed that before having children, women accepted and encouraged the masculine culture of the workplace.

The working mothers interviewed also needed to cover up the fact they were parents- replicating a masculine trait.

 One such interviewee Naida, a lawyer said, "The male partners never talked about their families. They've been very adept at keeping that separation between work and home."

"Many women leave high-powered jobs because they are relegated to lesser roles and feel the need to suppress their identities as mothers", says Kanji. "This is not only unfair. As an economy, we cannot afford to waste such skilled and educated workers."

The study, Giving up: how gendered organizational cultures push mothers out, was documented in the journal Gender, Work and Organization.