Mothers and fathers should both be able to work part-time and share parenting duties without impacting on their careers, Jenni Murray has urged. She said it was the “ideal solution” rather than one parent having to give up work or otherwise sending young children to the nursery.
But she added that many men and women are now stopped from working part-time due to the impact on their careers. Dame Jenni, a married mother of two grown-up sons, said, “What we don’t have are the social attitudes where people take part-time working seriously. I know so many women who have gone part-time and find reactions like, ‘She’s not taking it seriously, she’s not putting the hours in, she’s not working as hard as she could’.”
Dame Jenni, the president of the Fawcett Society, said modern young men want to be involved with parenting and it is no longer seen just as a woman’s role. She said, “Partly through my sons, I know a lot of young men who are beginning to change. They experienced with their fathers who were breadwinners and worked long hours, but expected they would never change a nappy. These boys are saying ‘We missed out on our fathers, but we won’t miss out on our children.’”
Dame Jenni said that, during the 1980s, she asked Margaret Thatcher about whether her government would be willing to help mothers wanting to go back to work. Mrs Thatcher replied, “Perhaps women could work a couple of days and find a kind aunt to help.” But Dame Jenni said, “She managed to do what she did because she had her wealthy husband to help with the childcare costs of their two children.”
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