Where are the part-time professional jobs for Mommies?

Ah, that’s a trick question, because, for the most part, they don’t exist. At least not in a way that compensates women fairly and allows them to continue growing their careers.

The New York Times Select has a fantastic op-ed by Judith Warner today exploring this sad truth. No surprise to hear that the Europeans are ahead of Americans on this social issue:

In Europe, significant steps have been made to make part-time work a livable reality for those who seek it. Denying fair pay and benefits to part-time workers is now illegal. Parents in Sweden have the right to work a six-hour day at prorated pay until their children turn 8 years old. Similar legislation helps working parents in France, Austria, and Belgium and any employee in Germany and the Netherlands who wants to cut back.

I especially like Warner’s observation that “the American model of work-it-out-for-yourself employment is Darwinian.” As I noted in my blog about my part-time work experience, success in negotiating a part-time position is, largely, dependent on your luck at having a child when you are already well-established in a workplace with sympathetic managers. How many women can pull that off?

And even this “ideal” arrangement has its drawbacks, as Warner notes:

None of this creates a perfect world. Feminists have long been leery of part-time work policies, which tend to be disproportionately used by women, mommy-tracking them and placing them at an economic disadvantage within their marriages and in society.

Warner reports that Senator Edward Kennedy and Representative Carolyn Maloney are trying to build consensus for draft legislation that would at least give (all) workers “the right” to request flexible work schedules, but with no obligation for employers to honor that request. It doesn't seem like much, but I suppose it's more than what exists now, when many people are probably afraid to even ask.

Here’s the inside link to Warner’s full op-ed. Well worth the read.