Was told today "Well, you'll have to give up work at some point to look after your child, you cant keep working"...

[ELF1981]

... WTF?!
Talking to a male colleague, he was asking about the course I'm currently taking at college (AAT). He asked how far I wanted to study the course, I said til it was finished. Then he said "then what are you going to do, quit and look after your baby?". When I said no, I wanted to be qualified so I could get an even better job and possibly go part time, he said "well you need to quit work to look after it."
First I went ballistic about the "it" - she, not it.
But I'm still smarting on the "have to give up work" sentence!
Do many men think this?

grrr. i fear this attitude is pretty common - but it's not ok! we have got to keep challenging them. i'm not even back at work yet and i;ve had one bloke dismiss me by saying 'it'll be like the mothers union round here' because the person i might end up doing a job share with also has a baby. cheeky bastard. he's also been telling everyone he'll be in charge. yeah right. he's going to get his head and his balls to juggle with when i get back to my desk.

LOL
It just shocked me. He's the same age as me (25) and I kind of expected to be on the same page in thinking, not on different continents!

i expect he feels threatened by you on some level. are you brighter, sharper, wittier than him by any chance...? don't take any shit. maybe by the time our daughters hit the workplace things will have improved...?!

I hope so.
I want to be a qualified accountant. I work for a good company, on good money (for an unqualified) and I love my job, but I'd like to move on, build a better future for my dd. I'm lucky that work were accomdating when I went back so I am home with DD before 5:00, but I just couldn't believe the conversation. Grrr.