Should Women Take Travel Jobs?
I work for an IT consulting firm. One of the job requirements is to be able to travel full time. That is, we fly out on Mondays and come home on Fridays. If we are lucky, we can work out the Monday through Thursday schedule and work from home on Fridays, which is what I am doing right now. Majority of my co-workers are male. And I don’t recall any married female co-workers in my department. We have ladies in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, however, almost all of us are single, single Mom or divorced with no kids.
I really think the frequent travel directly contributes to the single status of these career women. When we are traveling away from our homes, we are constantly under high pressure to be 120% focused on the jobs. So, working evening hours is normal. Sometimes, we have to sacrifice our weekends to stay on site to support the project. I am about to lose a couple of weekends again to work 20+ days straight without breaks. How the hell can I have a family life??!
Yes, the money is good and the career path is wonderful. But with this travel schedule, we can’t have a normal life. We can’t go home every night to eat dinner with our loved ones. We can’t sign up the Yoga class that’s on the New Year Resolution list. We might miss the baby’s first step. And when we do come home on weekends, we are too tired to do anything fun.
This might be my personal opinion and you might not agree with me. But I think the notion of “You can have both career and family” is bullshit! At one point, we have to make a choice, ditch one (although not completely) and just focus on another. When you choose career, then, there is a chance that a happy family might be out of reach. And in my opinion, a wonderful loving family is the most important thing in life when we grow older. So if a firm is offering you a 6 figure fat check in exchange of your commitment to fly 4 weeks a month, I’d think twice before taking the offer.
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POSTED IN: Fabulous Work Life Balance
4 opinions for Should Women Take Travel Jobs?
erin
Jan 15, 2006 at 10:31 am
This post is dead on with our findings related to the grueling travel lifestyle. It is one reason we created http://www.athleticmindedtraveler.com to help those who want to be healhty and active do so when away from home. Whether it’s getting a decent meal, finding a good running route or a decent place to sweat, there’s no doubt that if you feel good, you’ll perform better.
Gloria
Jan 15, 2006 at 5:57 pm
But I think the notion of “You can have both career and family” is bullshit! At one point, we have to make a choice, ditch one (although not completely) and just focus on another.
==I totally agree…and that is only coming from a single-mom’s view. ;-)
If I had a husband, I’d probably ended up a SAHM, honestly, I would have loved being one. It’s not that you can’t focus on two things (career and family), but then you end up a mediocre (if not a total failure) on both. That’s why the need to choose, at least you do best in either one. And most women I know, choose family.
Kayll
Jan 15, 2006 at 7:53 pm
Hi,
I work with “instructors” who travel all over the USA to give educational presentations. Most of them change to no-travel jobs after they start a family. They usually only last 3 years or so as instructors before they burn out.
When you travel like that, where exactly do you call your home? When are you not catching up on home life?
There’s only so much someone can sell their soul to their company. If your soul truly yearned for travel, it wouldn’t be a question about the travel. Don’t you think? I think if the right career came that fed your soul, it would also make time for family. Of course that’s in an ideal world. ;)
Happy I stumbled upon your blog today.
Matrimony Rules » Work and Relationships
Jan 17, 2006 at 8:06 am
[…] Christine at Blog Fabulous has been writing lately on the tolls that a job requiring lots of travel can take on you, and your relationship with your family. I really think the frequent travel directly contributes to the single status of these career women. When we are traveling away from our homes, we are constantly under high pressure to be 120% focused on the jobs. So, working evening hours is normal. Sometimes, we have to sacrifice our weekends to stay on site to support the project. I am about to lose a couple of weekends again to work 20+ days straight without breaks. How the hell can I have a family life??! […]
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