Support for working dads: the key to gender equality for working mums

The survey of over 7,000 working parents by coaching company Talking Talent echoes the findings of workingmums.co.uk recent surveys.

The research found that over half (52%) of working parents, including 26% men and 30% women, think that their career has slowed down compared to their childless colleagues.

Some 44% of working mothers found it difficult to keep an interesting job – but even more working fathers (53%) are finding this a challenge too.

The survey found more men (66%) than women (60%) felt guilty at not spending enough time with their children.

Flexible working hours

More than 57% of all those surveyed wanted flexible working hours, but while 21% of women have never had a request turned down, only 14% of men experienced the same.

Rebecca Hourston, Head of Working Parent & Executive Coaching Programmes at Talking Talent, said: “Stepping up to address these challenges is an important future investment for organisations. Attitudes and expectations are changing fast among young people and 68% of our respondents expected that the next generation would find it just as hard as them to balance work and parenthood.”

Two-thirds (66%) of working parents agreed that SPL can benefit couples by preparing them to share parental responsibilities more equally in future years.

The research shows that over half of parents (56%) would have been very likely to share parental leave if their pay and working conditions had met their needs.

However, half of respondents (51%) thought that fathers who took SPL would experience a detrimental effect on their careers, and 53% feared judgement if they chose SPL.

More than half of working parents (53%) experienced a significant gap between what their workplace says it’s doing and what it’s actually doing; around half of that group (26% of the total) made this point strongly.

One in three parents surveyed, struggled to understand their company’s policy on parental leave, for example.

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