BrownBag Summary - March 2008 - When is the right time to have children?

Groups of women discuss provocative topics at locations in academia and industry throughout BC. The March 2008 topic was: When is the right time to have children?

By: Michelle LaHaye

Despite the many changes that have happened allowing women to have children without being required to give up their careers, women still feel a strong sense that they will be perceived differently for having taken the time out to have a baby. And there are many questions surrounding the best time to do so to ensure that the disruption to their career is minimised. However, as brought up in the March BrownBag discussion at SFU, there doesn’t seem to be any answer to this question even from women who have had children.

The group did highlight some common themes including the reluctance of women to declare time-off for maternity leave for fear of being judged, that men don’t face the same concerns, and that having a partner with a less demanding job or less commitment makes things much easier. The women also felt that things have changed and that interviewing organisations and companies are sympathetic to women with children. The final part of their discussion centered around the magic number 35, the age after which the women would prefer not to start having children.