Employees who take time away from their jobs to care for children are often placed at a disadvantage when it comes to career development. How can we better acknowledge the value of parenting experience in the workplace?

If you’re a parent and you’ve had ‘time off work’ to care for children, you’ll have that gap. Not the gender pay gap (although you might have that too) – I mean the dreaded CV gap. That blank space between jobs where 1-10 years of your life has been dedicated to raising your family. You may even have a few of these gaps. And with every blank space comes the worry that you have ‘nothing’ to show for your efforts during this time (except for the macaroni necklaces and that lopsided handmade mug you simply ‘must take to work’ because clearly: priceless!). 

We worry that time spent caring for our families won’t be valued back in the workplace. But why not? The majority of working adults will become parents at some point, in some form or another. We all know what’s happening on the home front. So, what’s the big deal? Why do we worry that parenting won’t be seen as a valuable inclusion on our CVs? Because it’s not. And here’s why…

The gender issue

History has taught us that when women start to dominate a field of work, it becomes devalued over time. Research by the sociologists Asaf Levanon, Paula England, and Paul Allison in 2009, which examined US Census data from 1950 to 2000, found that ‘when women enter an occupation in large numbers, that job begins to pay less, even after controlling for a range of factors such as skill, race, and geography.’ 

This is a direct result of the way society discounts the work done by women. Therefore, it stands to reason that as long as women do the bulk of parenting, the role of the parent will remain undervalued by society.

Added to this is the backlash men face when they take up parenting duties over work duties. Ironically, when men have children they are seen as more responsible, but if they want to take time off to care for those children, they face multiple barriers in doing so. Hence society is reinforcing the message that parenting is not valued at work.

We don’t value parenting because it’s associated with what it takes away from work, rather than what it adds to work. The short-sighted perception is that it takes away commitment, focus, energy, ability, ambition, where in fact the only thing it actually takes away is time. 

But even that, I would argue, is disputable. You often get more bang for your buck when you hire a parent part-time (as any hard-working part-time parent can attest). So maybe we don’t lose as much time as we think.

Flipping the script

To proudly include parenting skills in our CVs we need to flip the script about working parents. We need to focus on the transferable skills that come from this demanding and defining role. Parenting is a boot camp for 21st century leaders. If you can negotiate breakfast with a toddler day in and day out, you can handle people and personalities at work, any day of the week. What do you learn from parenting that is transferable to the workplace? Let me count the ways…

• adaptability
• budgeting and finances
• creativity and innovation
• empathy and emotional intelligence
• high-pressure negotiations – with unreasonable and overly emotional tiny stakeholders 
• hope and optimism 
• influence and persuasion
• motivation and engagement
• operating in chaos – with no handbook
• resilience
• resourcefulness
• time management and productivity.

Need I go on?

We need to remember that the skills of parenting are some of the most transformative and critical skills any professional will develop in their working life. That’s not to say you can’t develop these skills without being a parent. Of course, you can. But you do get a masterclass when you become a parent and it’s time to acknowledge the power of parenting skills, loud and proud.

We need organisations to embrace the very human, very enduring existence of the family structure and not just allow for it in our workplaces, but leverage its benefits for the good of a happy home, an engaged workforce and a healthy society (not to mention a complete CV!). Who’s with me?

Author and speaker, Anneli supports women to increase their visibility, confidence and personal power for greater professional impact in male-dominated industries. You can connect with Anneli on LinkedIn at https://au.linkedin.com/in/anneliblundell, follow her on Twitter @AnneliBlundell.

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