Last fall, The New York Times ran a front page story claiming that "many women at the nation's most elite colleges have already decided that they will put aside their careers in favor of raising children." The basis for this article was a survey conducted at Yale of less than 200 women, of which 60% of them (about 85 women) said that when they had children, they planned to cut back on work or stop working entirely. Now, another study refutes those findings, with just 4.1% of Yale women surveyed reporting that they plan to stop work entirely after having children, compared to 0.7% of men.
Personally, I am flabbergasted that either of these studies are getting any serious attention. With all due respect to the opinions of these fine students, I find it frustrating that so much attention is being paid to a study that tracks theoretical intentions of young people, who are neither working nor parents, and it is foolish to interpret these findings as anything more significant than youthful speculation. While I personally find it interesting to ask my own daughter, who is a college sophomore, her plans regarding work and children, I would never presume to take her response too seriously. Her work experience is limited to summer jobs and her experience as a mother is (fortunately) non-existent. Ten years from now, after she has some experience dealing in the workplace and in the home, then I'll be delighted to give her opinions on this topic more credibility. Until then, I'll reserve my attention for women who have made their choices after giving birth.
It would be far more productive for our society if we payed more attention to promoting flexible work arrangements and spent less time pitting women against one another for the benefit of the media.
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