Fatherhood and careers

Fatherhood and motherhood seem to affect careers differently. Namely, pregnancy and motherhood are negatively accepted by companies, and many women who decide to have children, or those who already have children, lose their jobs or have smaller chances of getting promoted. On the other hand, men who are fathers have a 36% greater chance of advancing to manager positions in the companies they are working for. Amazingly, if we take men and women without children into consideration, their chances of advancing in the same direction are much smaller, stopping at 18%.

Fatherhood and Business

Reasons behind the previously mentioned information may be various. Basically, if we think about common stereotypes involving motherhood and fatherhood, employers may want fathers since they are likely to assume the responsible attitude of a careful, strict and dedicated provider. On the other hand, mothers, stereotypically, are considered to be prone to being caring, gentle and tolerant, thus not being ideal for a manager position in companies.

In fact, fatherhood is often the signal of a man’s readiness to be responsible and effective, capable of taking up more activities and tasks at work. Mothers are considered to place their children on the pedestal instead, being inappropriate for such work. Unfortunately, we live in a material world and not many employers are capable of sharing the joy of motherhood with their employees. Rather, if they cannot benefit from it, they are likely to tolerate it less.

Hormones, Fathers, Work

Even though many people believe that only mothers undergo hormonal changes during their pregnancy, this is not true. Males experience these changes too. Namely, their testosterone levels get lowered and they become more caring and supporting, being less competitive and aggressive. However, males need to want this kind of change. Otherwise, they will remain unaffected by the baby and the whole fatherhood transition. Simply, if a father desires to be a father, the change will be significant.

These days, we are facing a generation of fathers who are quite younger than those in earlier eras of humanity. Even though this can be positive, it often leads to teenage fathers, who are simply not prepared for the task of fatherhood, being prone to abuse, abandonment, neglect or other forms of poor parenthood.

These factors may reflect on the lives of these young fathers, making them drop out of school, start working prematurely, lacking proper education. So, this can reflect on their careers, decreasing their chances of prospering and being in charge of a lucrative business.