Job Hopping for Balance

Having kids changes you, there’s no doubt about that. As a parent, you learn to embrace dichotomy. In fact, as we were putting out daughters to bet the other night one of them was laughing because of how excited she was to sleep in her new bunk bed and the other was crying her eyes out for completely unknown reasons.

Since becoming a parent I have simultaneously been more stressed out and more able to slow down and enjoy the small moment. Never before have I been more exhausted or more energized.

So, with all of this, I was hardly surprised to read on Levo League that women in their 30’s are more likely to job hop than any other demographic. And indeed, women of all ages have engaged in more “job hopping” behavior than their male counterparts (full disclosure, I just typed ‘counterpants’ instead of counterparts. See what I mean about being tired?) since this type of data has been collected and tracked. In 1983 the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that “the rate at which women change occupations had increased substantially over the past two decades, but for men there had been no similar trend.” As a key time in our history where the messaging of “having it all” was really at its peak, I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable to be unsurprised at the trend. Having it all, in the very literal sense, is exhausting and I suspect (although was unable to find any data to back up my suspicion) that women have always been trying to find that elusive balance between having a successful career and having the type of family life they imagined for themselves.

As we come to the end of Women’s History Month (how!?) I think it’s critically important for us to examine what “having it all” really looks like, why that notion is literal rubbish, and what we can all do to make work work for us and have wholesome and fulfilling family lives.

 

Photo by Josh Calabrese on Unsplash