Xenia:
I never understood it either. Your husband assumes you can doo all the house things and children are your responsibility and work is cross because you can't really do the job properly and you often get full time work for part time hours and you're career over the next 40 years is often shot to pieces. Worst of all worlds. Also you have that position in regards to your partner, if you have one, that you are the house person so it's also a power and domestic issue too. You are lesser economically, earn less, he is more, supports the family and your money is just kind of minor pin money so you lose status both at work, in society and in your relationship.
I think that is extremely preumptuous. You are assuming that all people everywhere are the same - same relationships, same employers, same goals and desires in life. I don't for one minute pretend that employment law (or more improtantly, practice) favours working mothers. It clearly does not. And I know that many employers sideline part-time workers. But this isn't always the case, infact, many part time working mothers are very happy with their situation (and not because they are misguided!) My husband doesn't assume I should do all the housework - infact, he does as much if not more than me to help around the house. I don't deny that this must be a problem for many women, but if you happen to be in a relationship with an 'unenlightened man', it's difficult to believe that there are actually many fabulous men out there who do more than their fair share of household duties. Also - I don't do a full time job for half pay. I get paid good money for the hours I work. I don't earn as much, no, but I don't work as much - that's the whole point. The picture you paint of part time workers is a very bleak one - of downtrodden, friendless, poverty stricken mugs! It couldn't be farther than the truth for me.
I work part-time, have time to study and do many of the things I wished I'd always had time to do when I was climbing the career ladder like a woman possessed. I'm in a job that keeps my skills up, earns me money, gives me a social network and an identity - yet on Friday afternoons I am not stuck on the tube rushing home from work stressing about what's for dinner (I'm usually to be found sitting in my garden with a large glass of Merlot watching DS dig up the lawn!). It's not forever. I don't intend to be a part time worker until I am old and grey. And if this few years if a more relaxed pace and the great enjoyment I get from family life means I don't climb the career ladder as lightning fast as before, so be it. It ain't my loss honey! As a mother of young children, part-time suits me perfectly, as is the case I'm sure for many of us. To me, its the BEST of both worlds.