[beisner]

In my mind, the root of the problem is that companies haven’t figured out a way (or refuse to figure out a way) to buck the 9-5pm, 5-day, butt-in-seat workday policy. At the extreme case, if people could choose exactly which hours in a week they wished to work, completely independently of the company or team or anything, and perform that work anywhere they’d like, this wouldn’t be an issue. Women could take whatever time off they need to physically deliver a baby, and people in the family could arrange their working hours in such a way that all adults involved could agree on a preferred work/parent schedule that maintains whatever level of employment the adults desire.

With 9-5 this doesn’t work. Remote work helps alleviate some of these issues, but not all. There need to be organizational innovations to make this happen.

[dbcurtis]

In my experience, employers are much more flexible than the state employment department and the health insurance companies.

Ask to work 4 ten hour days, for instance instead of 5x8. The state will force the employer to pay overtime for the hours past 8 in a day.

[leigha]

I have noticed a trend of entrepreneurship amongst women I know that have babies and young kids. They are essentially creating jobs for themselves that work around these constraints you mention. They seem fulfilled and happy with this because it works best for the work/life balance. But most of them had a safety net that allowed them to start these endeavours in the first place.

Perhaps one solution is to offer a safety net i.e. grant, incubator, accelerator etc. for women in this position that allows them to create the job that works best for them? I suppose not everyone is cut out for it but this will at least encourage some.

[prawn]

I've noticed the same. But I think one risk is that fulfilment and flexibility often comes at the cost of structure that comes from the typical, corporate world - sick days, insurance (in the US), superannuation (Australia), etc.