The United States doubles as one of the best places in the world for career women looking to excel in male-dominated jobs, but one of the more difficult industrialized countries for working mothers.
In becoming a successful financial consultant, Veronica Campbell had to make some tough choices. She said she could not have advanced this far in her career had she started out married with young children and frequent travel even made dating too difficult.
When she started working in the 1970s, Campbell found it was more difficult to compete for positions and succeed. When she was turned down for a position, she was told the woman who had the position before did not work out and that no other woman would be hired in her place.
Campbell said things have changed since then and women are no longer regarded as being less capable than men in her profession. Anti-discrimination laws have allowed women to enter any profession they like, and advance in the ranks.
But working mothers often experience a different situation. , Director of Public Policy and Government at the (AAUW), said there are many people who still assume that the woman should be the one to stay home to look after kids and that a working mother "won't be as loyal an employee? or that ?she'll take more time off, she won't be free to travel."
The University of California?s , Professor of Law and Director of the Center for, said working mothers face greater workplace discrimination than that directed against women in general. And when doing the same job as men, working mothers are sometimes forced to choose between work and family needs.
"It's very hard to combine motherhood with employment because there [are] so few work-family support [systems,]" said of the . "And the assumption is that that's all up to you. It's a private choice to have children, and so you have to make the arrangements and there's no real support from society."
Mothers like , CEO and President of the Maryland-based , which advises businesses, struggle to manage their work and family schedules.
?You end up with very strong and compelling competitive demands on time. You?re always having to choose, and admittedly, I end up choosing many personal things out of the day. I see that as a huge risk," Lewis said. "I didn?t sign up to be Superwoman/mom/wife.?
These roles frequently interchange, said Lewis, and often include creative solutions such as assigning her kids tasks to help her through the day.
?I?ve had to create a ?call-out? plan so the kids know the order they call others to get a ride or some help under what circumstances,? Lewis explained. ?The kids also schedule their own appointments with the orthodontist, for example, and put those dates on the calendar.?
Forty percent of all children live in single-parent households, the majority of which are headed by women who can have a tough time finding affordable childcare, said Hegewisch.
"You might lose your job because of that. You might not be able to find work that fits in around the time when you need to be with your kids," said Hegewisch. "And while men are increasingly doing more at home, Hegewisch said they typically work longer paid hours, whereas women do the majority of unpaid care work.
Both childcare and eldercare can interrupt a woman's career if she is unable to juggle her time between them, as Campbell found out. She said caring for her mother was "part of the reason ... for stepping out of the career that I was in."
"I was the senior manager at the time and decided that I really couldn?t afford to give my mother the amount of time that I knew that she needed and also give my career the amount of time that it needed," Campbell explained. "And so I stepped back and ? started a separate career in independent consulting."
But recent studies show that women holding the same degree and the same job as male counterparts get less pay. Citing an AAUW study that compared the pay gap between male and female graduates holding the same degree and the same job, Maatz notes that "one year out of college, there's already a five percent gap." And the shortfall increases over time as retirement benefits and pay raises are taken into account to as much as 12 percent over a period of 10 years, according to the study.
, an advocate with says some of the young women she talks to often tell her they feel ready for the job market with the best education when they graduate. But once they get a job, they feel they are not receiving proper compensation or being treated fairly.