A recent study by INSEE sheds light on certain points around the effects of parenthood on the careers of women and men and reveals the different impacts of "family responsibilities" according to gender : overall, more unemployment and fewer working hours for them. Here are some key figures from this survey, deciphered by the editorial staff of the EVE web magazine.

Having children : a professional obstacle for some and an asset for others ?

The study "Being a parent : from managers to workers, more consequences on women's employment" reveals distinct effects of parenthood on careers according to gender. While women (employed or formerly employed, aged 25 to 49) with family responsibilities (one or more children under 15) are less likely to be employed (76%) than those who do not (84%), among men it is the opposite: those with family responsibilities are more likely to have a job (91%) than others (82%).

These data seem to indicate the persistence of a stereotyped organization of social functions, still too often positioning men as " breadwinners " and placing women in tension between the figure of the "housewife" and that of the " working girl ".

Moreover, the inequalities in employment between men who are fathers and those who are not raise questions about a possible " parenthood bonus" for men, which our EVE and Donzel Report had already pointed out (page 40) when there is, in an inverted mirror, a cost in terms of loss of professional opportunities for women. There are several hypotheses to explain this phenomenon : the unconscious internalization by employers that the partner of a young father will " slow down " and that it is therefore time to entrust this man with new responsibilities ; the pervasiveness of the imaginary of the " good father " reputed to be serious, stable and reliable against the common idea that a " young mother " is more emotional and reviews her priorities in favor of emotional and family life; or the effects of wage gaps on households' financial trade-offs, encouraging couples to choose, when a child arrives, to favour the career of the best-paid (most often Sir).

Variable conditions for employed parents depending on social background

The INSEE study also tells us that the unemployment rate varies according to the sector of activity and social background. In doing so, it is among manual workers that we find the largest gap : 54% of those with family responsibilities are employed compared to 74% of those who do not. Among managers, 90% of women with one or more children have a job, compared to 94% of those who do not.

Parenthood also has an important influence on time management among female workers. Thus, 45% of employed women aged 25 to 49 who have family responsibilities say that being a parent has had consequences on their professional situation and 16% say that it has led them to reduce their working hours.

Part-time  work is an important point of reference regarding the different realities between men and women with children. 21% of female managers have used it (83% of them for family reasons) and 25% of female workers have used it. Among men, only 2% of managers work part-time (57% for family reasons) and 5% of manual workers.

For a renewal of professional equality policies

These recent data re-emphasize the need to conduct comprehensive equality policies that act simultaneously on the differences in status between women and men and between advantaged and less advantaged populations.

Several avenues are to be explored : the change in policies for the articulation of life times, the effects of which on the reduction of inequalities are more or less convincing ; the renewal of the fight against stereotypes and decision-making biases in order to hit the hard core of assignments to gendered roles; the trivialization of male parenthood to the equivalent of the generalization of women's work; the deployment of talent development strategies that include all populations, not just executives...