According to the research, 58% of childless women in The Netherlands expect that having children will influence their working career in a very negative way. However, only 24% of the men expect that parenting will be detrimental to their careers.
Young and highly educated people, both men and women, also think that their chances on the labour market will change adversely when they have a child. Men also think that parenting has more influence on the career of women than on themselves.
According to CBS, these results reflect the current situation on the labour market. Women with children work fewer hours than men with children and they also earn less per hour (at the same age and education).
Almost half of the highly skilled employees expect to ‘suffer’ from the parenting on the job market. Amongst lower educated employees less than a quarter share this negative expectation.
Survey results also showed that people who are in their twenties say that parenthood can have negative consequences for their careers while those in their thirties are less worried. The reason for this might have to do with the fact that those in their thirties have established their careers or becoming a parent is more common around this age group.