Attitudes about motherhood harm women in industry, says study.
Attitudes about motherhood can impede women's career aspirations, even at companies that purport to have family-friendly policies, a study suggests (C. Herman et al. Gender Work Organ. 20, 467–478; 2013). Women working in science, engineering and technology at multinational corporations in the Netherlands, France and Italy adopted potentially career-damaging tactics including, for example, avoiding big projects and disguising the need to leave early or come in late because of childcare obligations, the study found. Firms must take stock of how attitudes stymie women who are looking to advance, says study co-author Anne Laure Humbert, a gender researcher at the European Institute for Gender Equality in Vilnius.
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Mothers' careers stalled. Nature 501, 271 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7466-271b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7466-271b