MBA and Motherhood

Although my blog is not necessarily directed at women, I am posting this link to an article I saw in Business Week today. It talks about female MBA graduates that decide to become stay-at-home moms after a few years into their career.

The article is interesting, but I think it could use a little bit more research. I do not think you need an MBA, a PhD, a JD, or MD degree to decide to stay home. I think women choose motherhood over career regardless of their education. I also do not think that it is easier for MBA moms to stay home because they spent less money on their education than a JD, or MD mom. Also, the article does not say how many MBA moms work part-time or have their own business at home.

At the end of the day, I believe that the problem is not that MBA moms want to stay at home. The problem is that businesses are not very flexible or family-friendly. If they were, I am sure more MBA moms would opt to keep working. Plus it would be a better business practice. A family-friendly, flexible environment would keep the employees - male and female - happy, and more productive.

The U.S. seems to be more reluctant to change in this respect. Many European countries allow one of the parents to take two or three years off, and the government pays them either a fixed salary or a percentage of their most recent salary. Even so, a lot of parents decide to keep their jobs and either hire a nanny or have a member of the family take care of the children. But at least the options are there.

I hope that by the time I decide to have children, I am going to be working for a company that will offer some options. Right now, I do not think I want to be a stay-at-home mom, but I still want to be there for my baby as much as possible. There are so many firsts in a baby's life, and I do not want to miss them. So flexibility is definitely something I would look for in a company. Anything is possible, you just have to be open to it.