Top schools for moms
A survey conducted in 2005 by the Center for Work-Life Policy published in a Harvard Business Review article, showed that while 94% of highly qualified women who were out to the work force wanted to resume their careers, only 74% actually do. The nation’s top business schools have recognized the need for professional development programs that focus on issues and training for these women. Harvard, Dartmouth and Wharton offer executive training programs for professional re-entry.
Harvard’s weeklong program, “A New Path: Setting Professional Directions,” is available to women with substantial business experience and offers seminars on changes and trends in accounting, finance, marketing and other industries. Career coaching, resume writing and classes in new technology are also part of this program. Dartmouth’s 11-day course, “Back in Business: Invest in Your Return” and Wharton’s “Career Comeback” program offer similar curriculum.
These programs rely heavily on corporate sponsorship from companies like UBS and Citigroup who are looking to recruit top talent. This is great news for women returning to work. For more information on the topic check out this New York Times article or visit irelaunch.com for a more complete listing of executive training programs for women returning to work.
Who opts out?
An interesting study will soon be published by the Census Bureau specifically assessing the demographics of women who opt out of their careers after having children. A preview of the findings, published in the Wall Street Journal, shows that most women return to work within a year of having a baby.
Not surprisingly, economic need drives the decision to return to work. Women whose annual incomes were greater than $200,000 and/or whose spouses incomes were high, were less likely to return to work and may “opt-out” and become stay-at-home moms. Those with the lowest incomes (less than $50,000 per year) were also likely to opt out as their incomes did not meet their child care expenses.
LinkedIn webinar - 2/23/09
For those of you not familiar with LinkedIn and need some basic instruction on how to create a profile, iRelaunch.com is hosting a step-by-step webinar on Monday, February 23. LinkedIn is a networking web site where users display a professional profile, similar to a resume, and make and share business contacts. Think of it as the business-person’s Facebook. Take a look at my profile to get an idea of how a profile looks and what LinkedIn does. Specifics of the webinar are detailed below:
Date: February 23, 2009
Time: 11:00-12:15 EST
Subject: How to create a LinkedIn profile
Format: Live Webinar
Cost: $19.99
Registration closes on February 19, 2009 so register soon. Don’t worry if you have never attended a webinar (live seminar broadcast and accessed on the web), iRelaunch will provide step-by-step directions after you register. Once your have you profile up and running, send me a contact request!
YourOnRamp-11/18/08
Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and YourOnRamp are hosting a seminar November 18 titled, The Next Generation of Work Flexibility for women and men changing careers or returning to work after hiatus.
- who - Northwestern University and YourOnRamp
- what - career forum, “The Next Generation of Work Flexibility”
- where - Allen Center, 2169 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL
- when - November 18, 2008, 4:30-9:00
- cost - $40.00
- register online at www.youronramp.com
I will be attending and sharing my experience on momgoesback. Should be interesting.
More on China
Wendy and I at the Hyatt on the Bund.
Other random thoughts,
Driving is a unique, somewhat life-threatening experience, crossing the street should be an Olympic event and the traffic makes NYC look like a quiet suburb.
People ballroom dance in the park in the morning (before it gets too hot).
I felt very tall and big–especially when I tried on clothing.
I want to learn to speak Mandarin.
Best part of the trip–I have new friends in China.
I could have never survived without the guidance of my friend and classmate Wendy Chen, whose native Mandarin saved me from confused cabdrivers. She explained the nuances of Chinese business culture (bring lots of business cards if you go) and advised on dining (watch out for the chicken claws in the soup.) She went above and beyond the call of duty to help me in China and was a joy to work with on this global project.
She is back in Taiwan visiting her family now and I miss her very much.
Back from China
This is me in the very beautiful Yu Garden in Shanghai. It was really, really hot.
Photo credit: Eileen Zampa’s tour guide in China.
I returned safely from China and all was well on the home front. (Don’t think they missed me that much!) China was amazing. I was struck by many sights and experiences but two points come to mind that I think are relevant to momgoesback.
First, the majority of moms are working moms. If they can work, they do. The women I worked with were working professionals, upper middle-class. The first day at a welcome business lunch hosted by my sponsor company, there was a celebratory toast offered to a new mom at the table. Needless to say, with China’s one-child policy, the birth of your child is a momentous occasion and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It made me very self-conscious during conversations to say I had three children but also appreciative that I had the choice to have as many children as I wanted. Walking around Shanghai you don’t see very many children and when you do, they are always with several adults, usually both sets of grandparents.
Second observation — the Confucian tradition of a strong, extended and hierarchical (paternal hierarchy of course) family has translated in modern times to built-in childcare. Grandmothers care for the child of the family, freeing up time for both parents to work. A classmate of mine is here in the U.S. while her one-year old son lives in China with her parents and his father is in Hong Kong. This is a rare circumstance in the U.S. but growing common in China as more women come to the U.S. for higher education.
mom goes to Shanghai!
Day before a two-week trip to Shanghai for my summer residency. I am traveling with a group of 20 students and faculty from NU to learn about the Chinese market and recieve a project briefing from Yum Brands!.
Slight panic has set in. I have never been away from my children this long and never so far away. What if one of them gets sick? What if their father has to travel while I am away? What if I really, really miss them or they really, really miss me? What if Skype doesn’t work? I am counting on being able to see their faces even if it is poor quality video. What if the babysitter doesn’t show up? What if I forgot something to tell them or add to the detailed home calendar?
What if they need me?
I know there are many working mothers (and many more fathers) who travel for business and are away from their families for extended periods. If you are one of them, please send me your advice.
FYI, I have not posted since early June because I have been prepping for this trip. I am back and hope to have some interesting posts from China.
Oh, and despite the pre-trip panic, I can’t believe I am going to China.
women, ambition & politics
Photo Credit: James Steidl
In her washingtonpost.com blog, On Balance, Leslie Morgan Steiner criticized the findings of a Brookings Institution study that concluded women are under-represented in politics because they are not as politically ambitious as men. Specifically, the Brookings report states:
“Extensive research shows that when women run for office, they perform just as well as men…The fundamental reason for women’s underrepresentation is that they do not run for office. There is a substantial gender gap in political ambition; men tend to have it, and women don’t.”
The report concludes the gender ambition gap in American politics is attributable to the following:
Women are less likely than men to:
- be willing to endure the rigors of a political campaign
- be recruited to run for office
- have the freedom to reconcile work and family obligations with political office
- to think they are qualified to run
- to perceive the political environment as fair
According to Ms. Steiner, some of the real reasons women do not run for office are,
“A lack of role models. Low self-confidence in the political arena. Abysmal financial support. Pitiful recruitment by entrenched political organizations. Reluctance to subject our families to public scrutiny.”
“So, [she continues] I argue that women are plenty ambitious — in politics, in our professional lives and at home. The “gap” is in people’s perceptions and definitions of female ambition. Ambition in a dress looks different. Get over it. The real obstacles to success won’t get addressed if we poo-poo women as lacking ambition and stop the discussion there.”
Interesting issue, after spending two days with several very ambitious women at Harvard, I would add that political office may not be the venue of choice for ambitious women who want to change the world. Non-for-profit management, entrepreneurship, commitment to education were many of the preferred environments for women to give back to their community and effect change.
reality check from More
More magazine published a great discussion on the topic of women going back to work with Sylvia Ann Hewlett, founder of the Center for Work-Life Policy, Pamela Stone, sociologist and professor at Hunter College and Leslie Bennetts, author of The Feminine Mistake.
Hewlett discusses the demands women have balancing work not only with caring for their children but also with eldercare responsibilities which Hewlett describes as “even more sex-biased” than childcare, with women responsible for 85% of eldercare but only 73% of childcare.
Stone shares her research on the challenges of finding stimulating, well-paid, flexible work and Bennetts discusses the financial setbacks and vulnerabilities women encounter when they leave the workforce i.e., 37% loss of earning power when women are out of the workforce for more than three years.
Welcome to momgoesback.com
Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog! The site offers news, resources and advice for women returning to work. Of course, I would love to find out what you think as well, so make sure to comment.
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