Women keen for more work challenges after having kids

Over 90% of working mums say having children has made them keen for new work challenges.

Some 69% of the 379 women polled said having children had made them more keen for career progression. Fifteen per cent wanted a new career. Eight per cent were setting up or wanted to set up their own business. Just five per cent wanted a career break and three per cent wanted to put work on the backburner.

One woman said simply: "Having kids does not mean my life will be put on hold and dreams thrown into bin."

Many found their work ambitions had been thwarted due to having children or wanting to work closer to home and school. One said: "I would love career progression, but every interview so far I have been unsuccessful. I am determined more than ever to succeed. The only way is up!"

Another said: "At present I am stuck in a minimum wage job doing set shift hours, I am hoping to find something homebased where I can progress my career and hopefully earn more than NMW."

Others said they needed to progress their careers as they faced strains on their finances.

Others had opted for self-employment to get the flexibility they needed. One woman said: "I want a happy work balance for my family and I'm thinking of becoming self employed as its hard to find work that fits around kids and is local and I still need to provide."

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Another said she was happy to work reduced hours while her children were small, but felt more opportunities should be open to other women to progress as a part-time worker. She said: "Working part-time I am happy where I am whilst my children are still young. My employer enables working mums to have a great work/life balance with flexibility for appointments etc, and in return I work hard, try to exceed expectations at all times and prove that I am just committed and can contribute as well as a full-time employee. I feel very lucky to have a great employer, but feel these sort of opportunities should be more common and employers should think twice when deciding only full-time staff will do. My long-term aim is career progression once children are older."