If you're reading this, and you have children, do you work fewer hours per day or days per week than your partner? And if so, do you do that because you want to, or because you feel you've been forced to? I'm reading an article in the Independent this morning, which refers to Glassdoor survey results ...
“I do suffer with working mother’s guilt, but I wonder if this ‘guilt’ is something I am feeling based on what I believe others are thinking” The interview series returns after a summer break, featuring Kildare native Alma Jordan. After years in sales and marketing, the mother of one recently set up her own business, AgriKids, ...
“One of the key drivers for my moving job was that my previous role had very little flexibility and only allowed working from home in very special circumstances and on a temporary basis.” This week’s interview is with solicitor, blogger, and mother of three Sinéad Fox. She talks guilt and glass ceilings, presenteeism and batch cooking, and ...
“It may however be the case that even the most ambitious of women change their priorities when they have children and therefore they are happy to reside under the glass ceiling as it gives them the freedom to be home at 5.30pm.” This week I speak to Eimear Hutchinson, a mum of two girls, Aoife and ...
“Anyone reading this will hate me when they hear that childminder costs are highly subsidised and kindergarten is free. We only have to pay for the dinners. The level of care is very good too.” This week’s interview comes from further afield than usual. Fionnuala Zinnecker is a mother of three, with a German husband, an ...
“We need to stop congratulating fathers whenever they pitch in. This perpetuates the belief that child rearing and housework are ‘women’s work’ and men are only helping out.” Thank you Deirdre for taking part in this interview series for Office Mum - could you tell me how many children you have and their ages? I have a boy, ...
"I remember the first day Caitlin put her arms out to go to one of her crèche minders while still in my arms and I swear my heart broke a little." This week I meet Martina Perry. She’s married to rugby obsessed New Zealander Grant, and mother to two small girls, Caitlin and Elise, as well as baby ...
“We haven’t made it easy in this country for women or for young families. We say that we want everyone to be productive members of society, but then we haven’t put the supports in place for people with young children who want to go back to work. I think this should be top of the ...
“Sometimes I think that the only way this would be properly addressed by society is if women announced they were not going to be involved in any further reproduction until the system was change to make life easier afterwards” This week’s interview is with Alison O'Connor, who is a columnist with The Irish Examiner. Her work ...
“It is usually women… who see the raised eyebrows when they actually have to leave their desks to go and pick up their children and can’t stay late, but who maybe then put in another few hours on the laptop when the children go to bed” Originally from west Clare but living in Dublin, Joanne is ...