...to post a shameless begging thread?

[HermioneWeasIey]

For ideas of course, not money.

There's a TLDR at the bottom, but some backstory:

MN has helped me so much over the past five years - empowering me to leave my abusive exP, giving me advice when my tax credits stopped causing me to be suicidal yada yada.

But the time when this community really went above and beyond was when the data collection for my dissertation ended up completely useless due to a uni admin error and over 200 of you lovely people did my survey in 48 hours and I ended up getting an unbelievable grade for it, thanks to you guys saving the day.

A year later, I've just started my MSc in Organisational Psychology and I think I might need you all again. Most of my fellow students are planning on doing their research projects within their workplace. But I have a horrible job, which I'm desperate to leave. I've got a couple of interviews lined up, but security clearance will take a couple of months and my proposal is due in December.

And actually, I want to study something I'm really interested in. And I'm interested in women, especially mothers (particularly women who are/ were young and/ or single mothers), and class, and how this affects career opportunity, attainment, self-confidence, barriers to career success etc.

So I suddenly thought today... maybe this is one that MN might help me out on too? I think qualitative research would be better for these themes, and I'm just researching whether this is really an option online. It seems it is, though I don't know whether my lecturers would think so. So I guess my question is twofold.

1. Would you (please ) think about taking part in a qualitative study online like this? I guess I could try to offer a £50 voucher or something as a prize to one participant to entice.

2. [TLDR] if you were going to research (or choose to read some research on) a topic relating to work, and people in the workplace, what would you choose?

I’ll be happy to contribute, no incentives necessary.
I’m a single (widowed) parent to 2 Dc, one at uni, the other in yr 7. I haven’t had paid employment for quite a few years, but I do have some stories that may be useful.

I only mention the widowed bit to add context. It was a sudden and traumatic death which had huge repercussions for the fledgling business I’d set up , just weeks before he died. I’d previously been a divorced mother working full time so I e had all sorts of life experiences, I guess.

Feel free to dm me if you think I may have anything useful to offer you.

I wish you all the best in your MSc, how exciting!

I have a couple of thoughts. One would be looking at women abandoning qualifications, and thus limiting their career prospects when they become parents - something I personally regret doing.

Another would be around The everyday sexism in the workplace that is so insidious, it’s not noticeable half the time. The assumption that women and especially mothers aren’t ambitious, the expectation that women will do the nice things that make things run smoothly for everyone else; buy milk, make tea, organise collections, meet and greet guests. The difference in male/female speaking time in meetings, the temperature of the office, the toilet facilities, task & project allocation. I could go on.

Whatever you choose - good luck. I’d be happy to help if I can.

Has my first at 16, was a single mother, happy to participate.

Yeah. The subject that particularly interests me is the effect having a child with a disability has on parents working patterns. It has made it nigh on impossible to work for a while for me due to multiple appointments, surgeries, viruses going round nursery meaning DC constantly sick and unable to go under GA for MRIs/surgery and so on.

Just to say that there must be literature on doing qualitative work online? Interested as I'm having my first go at mixed methods work soon.

I'd be interested in what proportion of women with children under 5 want to work out of the home full time. I don't, and often feel like the outlier among friends, but then my understanding is that they all need to work (financially). I wonder if some people say they want to work because they've reconciled themselves to something that in reality they have no choice about. I know many women really do want to, but I can't be the only person that hates leaving the kids to go to work (and I like my job).

You can Pm me too if you like ...I was a single mother at 19 with my 1st child and then became a mother for the 2nd time at 41 ,,will be glad to help if you need any..dont know if it will help but its there if you want it!

I think this would be fascinating. The most important thing in a dissertation is to be genuinely interested in the subject, and it sounds like you are. I'd participate without an incentive. Lots of good ideas on this thread. I would be interested to read about how a woman's female role models (both family and in the workplace) affect her ideas about what's possible, professionally, after having children.

A lot of PPs ideas sound good. Also I'd be interested in the attitudes (of both the women involved, partners and colleagues) towards women returning to work full time with stay at home dads.

Also a comparison of domestic and emotional work done by stay at home mums/dads, working parents where they work equal hours. -This one might be more quantitative?

As for doing the research I take part in research questionairres when friends post them on Facebook and they are relevant to me. On here it depends on if I see them and have time.

Until I stayed home with my kids, I didn't realise the huge pension "debt" I will have from stopping work. I would LOVE to see some documentation on the difference in pension contributions between men and women of the same age and how that affected them later in life.

Might seem a silly suggestion but most women with children, young, single or not tend to have to leave their workplace at a specific time (generally the time they are contracted to leave) in order to do school or childcare pick ups.
They are also generally the point of call for ill children.

In the modern uk workforce presentee-ism and longer hours than are contracted are the norm. Very few people even those on an hourly rate, are actually expected to leave at their designated leave time.

Every women I know has a massive feeling of guilt for leaving on time, or having to take time off for child illness, childcare fails etc. Is this guilt internal or external. Are women actually pressured by their “legally bound modern flexible workplaces” to be there, or is this guilt internal..?

I'd like to know how much declaring you have a mental health issue halts promotion

Agree 2nd child was the nail in the coffin of my career - especially once school started.

Single parent 2 DC - second DC additional needs so child care post 11years old difficult.

Attitudes of younger women who have paid maternity leave and opportunities to work part time towards older women who had no choice. (Mostly disparaging and critical)

(And yes class is a factor as is age, (young and old) )

Sorry everybody, I lost the thread. Your ideas sound brilliant! Have certainly drawn some inspiration from them all. Thanks for the well wishes, and I will be in touch after Christmas with all the kind PPs who have said they would be happy to take part (or maybe I'll post again on this thread, in case of NCs).

Thank you all