4th June 2010, 01:12 PM
Speaking as someone who has just had a kid, there's no way that I'd realistically be able to go back to fieldwork. Quite apart from the money issue, there is also the prospect of an hour and a half's unpaid drive time each way being thought of as normal, and the prospect of being sent to a site on the other side of the country for months on end. I don't want to put my kid in nursery for a 12 hour plus day. Maybe not all career choices are down to discrimination, some must be pragmatic reasons. That said, its going to be a bugger trying to pursuade my partner's company to be flexible. It is run by entrepreneur types who think that employment law should only apply to other people.