To ask if you work full or part time and the reasons why?

[BabyNextYear25]

My sister received news today she would not be able to return to work full time as there isn't capacity. She was a little annoyed as her youngest will be in school and she's bored at home.
It got me thinking, the vast majority of my female friends and family work part time. It would be my dream to work part time but it's not feasible at the moment. Um curious to see how many women work part time, and what is there reason behind it? But also full time as well.
My reason is simple- I was single parent and I couldn't pay my mortgage on one wage.

I’ve always worked full time. I would have loved to go part time when DS’s were younger( or not work at all) but DH has always had minimum wage jobs so we couldn’t afford it.

went part time when our twins were 9 months and I went back to work 3 days a week. Increased that to 4 days when they were older.

They’re now in their 20s and we are mid 50s. No intention of going back full time but appreciate I’m lucky to be able to do this.

Full time - need the money.

Part time for 15 years. First because I did a PhD part-time also and then because I ended up a single parent and wanted to be with my DC after school to try and compensate for the devastation of losing every other weekend and half of all holidays.

32 hours over 4 days. I worked 3 when my kids were at nursery and increased to 4 now they are at school. I don't want to work more, I like having a day off in the week to get things done.

Part-time because of poor mental health. I couldn't cope with life and full-time work, so I do as much as I can. My Dh also works part-time for the same reason, which means we are pretty poor, but managing just. it is what it is.

35hrs term time. Works for us as a ND family with tweens. Work/life balance is good although I was a SAHP for 8yrs until youngests went to school full time. I had them close together (18mnths between them)

Stay at home parent after DC3 was born, worked part time (school hours) until they were 8 years old. Now wfh full time, we need the money, have considered dropping to 4 days but now work a 9 day fortnight.

I do 30hrs over 4 days.The only reason I don't do full time is because I started out on a part time contract when my kids were still babies/toddlers. Now they are both in school, I would love the extra 7 or 8 hours for more money, but my current company doesn't have the means to offer more hours for my role right now and I love my job and don't want to leave for the sake of a few extra hours a week!

Full time, primarily for financial reasons. I dropped to 30 hours for a short time but then found myself trying to do full time work for 4/5 of the money and was just resentful. Lots of late night early/morning emails and report writing so I went back to full time as soon as I could.

full time as always been the main earner.

I always thought 37.5 or 35 was the standard, but I always say full time when people ask what i do because it is closer to that than part time (which I would say about 21 hours pw is off the top of my head as a standard part time job). In my company 37.5 is full time.

I also have an ND child with complex needs (like some posters on this thread). It has been very difficult dealing with the SEND system with partner working FT and me almost FT. It is pretty stressful and I do sometimes long to be part time! It doesn't help that the SEND system just seems to assume you don't work because you have a disabled child and therefore have all of the time in the world.

I work part time 30 hours (full time is 35). This was because DS was young but now its mainly because I study on my day off and also get a bonus day off with DS 14 in school holidays.

I’m part time. 2 days working for a company year round. Plus 1-2 days a week self employed mostly term time only.

im a single parent but very luckily this lets me pay the bills.

Part time since I had my first DC who's now 26! Was part time term time when both dc were in school, and for about 5 years after they'd left. Mainly because there was no room for me to go full year. I'm no longer term time, but still part time, (4 days a week)because I don't like my job, and I can afford not to be full time.

Part time (30 hours a week) at present. When I was younger more than full time, I had a full time job and a part time job, because I just couldn't manage on just one wage. Now I am over 60 and not quite as badly off - so I reduced my hours.

Full time atm but just had a baby and plan on going back four days a week.

Full time because I am the main earner. DH gets the more creative role and often doesn’t work for months on end. I love my job (most of the time) so mostly don’t mind.

3 days a week. Went part time after DS1. I now have 3 kids, two under school age. I value those 2 days with them so much. I won't change until they are much older.

Full time. Would like to go part time (like many of my colleagues grrr) but there's just too much work. Luckily I love my job.

Full time - I wouldn't have been taken seriously with my career if I hadn't gone back full time. But that was a long time ago. I think it's different now (civil service).

My job was also difficult to do PT - I would have needed to find a job share partner.

FT. Didn't get on the job market till I was 37 and I need to save up a pension.

Part time because I can and because I want to. I like to be able to do the school run 3 x a week. I have mental and physical space so I'm not overwhelmed by general family chores. I get to walk the dog at my leisure. I know this is a luxury and I am grateful to my husband who works full time to enable this lifestyle. He in return appreciates that family life runs smoothly and doesn't begrudge me an hour or so in front of the telly when I need / want it.

Part time now. I was full time mainly for the pension. I’m happy with how much I’ll get from my pension now, so I’ve gone very part time.

I think many of us are in this boat.