Women Blog

I felt eager to start the new week after a restful weekend. It was a tiring one the week before when my little boy was ill and I am just so glad he’s recovering so well now. I can’t help but count my blessings for being a work at home mom especially when my child needed some extra care on those under the weather days.

For me, no matter how busy I am in my home office, there’s nothing like having dinner together as a family. Although it can be tough balancing work life and family life but I always make it a point to cook a meal for the family so that we can end the day well. DH and me avoid discussing work at the dinner table even though we work from home. We often engage a conversation with little junior and find out how’s school has been for that day.

Sometimes I feel guilty about neglecting my child when he came running into our home office after school. It is hard to keep him out and he’s always expecting one of us to play with him. He would help himself with many gadgets in our workplace, from our digital camera to our SD card, it’s challenging to focus on my work when he’s around. So the best time to work productively would be the time he’s in school. After that, it would be divided attention.

But seriously, ask me to trade a full time job with my current home office? The answer will be a ‘no-no’. I am enjoying my role as a work at home mom and wouldn’t mind the long working hours when little junior goes to bed. As such, the office remains open throughout the day and night until DH and myself calls it a day. So that’s life for us and it looks like this will continue for us in the many years to come.

Junior Achievement-ING poll finds differences in motivation, goals and career choices between boys and girls

As the number of women surpasses men in the workforce, a recent Junior Achievement (JA)-ING poll found striking differences in the opinions of teenage boys and girls in what motivates them to excel on the job and what tools they consider important in determining career success.

Motivation to succeed stems from very different places for boys and girls. The JA-ING poll found that fewer girls than boys said they needed perks such as a promotion and raise (girls 38 percent, boys 56 percent), to excel on the job. When asked if they needed additional motivation to succeed, 40 percent of girls responded that they did not, while only 22 percent of boys said they needed no extra motivation. Also, when asked what would motivate them to take a less than ideal job, the poll found that fewer girls say they are motivated by a higher salary than boys, with 67 percent girl respondents saying they were motivated by a higher salary versus 74 percent of boy respondents.

Boys and girls also had differing opinions on how to prepare for career success. While 85 percent of girls identified schools programs, such as job shadowing, that help develop work skills and prepare them for a career, only 78 percent of boys identified the above as important for career readiness. Furthermore, girls (68 percent) placed more value on mentoring and networking than boys (61 percent) in helping them get a good job.

“Despite some interesting gaps among young women and men, we’re seeing that all teens are thinking very seriously about their career paths,” said Jack E. Kosakowski, president of Junior Achievement USA. “Teens are telling us they want to channel this energy and invest in their future careers. Junior Achievement programs help kids reach their goals by providing them with positive career role models and with the tools to be successful in the workplace, such as leadership and teamwork skills.”

As women start to outnumber men in the workforce, taking a look at what careers boys and girls aspire to can provide insight on whether this new workplace balance is here to stay. According to the JA-ING poll, girls are still lagging behind boys in choosing careers in math and science – only 10 percent of girls picked engineering and science versus 19 percent of boys, and two percent of girls are pursuing careers in computers versus eight percent of boys. However, girls are choosing careers that are and will continue to be in high demand – 20 percent of girls want to be doctors versus only nine percent of boys, and 13 percent of girls are pursuing teaching versus four percent of boys. Girls are selecting those jobs which tend to be more in demand, which should further tilt the employment scales in their favor.

For a full survey abstract, visit: http://ja.org/files/polls/kids_careers_2010-JA-ING-Teens-and-Career-Poll.pdf.

Methodology

The Junior Achievement-ING Kids and Careers Poll was conducted by Opinion Research Corporation from December 10-13, 2009, and surveyed 750 U.S. boys and girls ages 12-17 by telephone. The survey’s margin of error is +/- 3.4 percent.

Drinking red wine with a meal, going for a run before you eat or eating cheese afterwards are some of the ways people mistakenly think they can boost the iron in their diet, according to a new survey by online health resource, meatandhealth.com.

The survey also found that more than half of women surveyed believe that spinach is the best source of iron. In fact, you would need to eat a large amount of spinach to get the same amount of iron as there is in a 4oz sirloin steak.

The over 65s were the least informed of any age group, with 53 per cent thinking that drinking red wine was a good thing! Three quarters of the women surveyed did not know what the recommended daily amount of iron is (14mg) and 90 per cent did not know the difference between haem and non haem iron.

Leading nutritionist Juliette Kellow said the results were alarming, given the high number of women who are likely to be iron deficient.

“Currently around 40 per cent of women aged 19 to 34 years have iron intakes below the minimum amount needed to stay healthy and so are at risk of iron-deficiency anaemia. Meanwhile, 93 per cent of 16 to 18 year olds consume less than the recommended intake of iron,” Juliette said.

“Teenage girls and pre-menopausal women are at a greater risk of suffering with iron deficiency anaemia as they have higher nutritional needs for iron than men and post-menopausal women due to losses during menstruation. Fortunately, this condition can easily be prevented in most people through eating a healthy, balanced diet that contains plenty of iron-rich foods”.

Another area of confusion was around the benefits of iron for pregnant women. 80 per cent did not realise that iron deficiency could lead to premature birth; only 31 per cent knew that iron deficiency could result in a low birth weight and even fewer (27 per cent) acknowledged that recovery after birth may be prolonged due to iron deficiency.

Juliette Kellow said: “UK women need to know more about where and how to improve their iron intake and absorption as it’s so important for overall health.”

Survey carried out by Pollab Limited, 29th January – 1st February 2010, amongst a demographically representative sample of UK women – total sample size: 1,073 women aged 16+.