What’s the “Ideal” Age to Have a Baby AND a Successful Career?
First of its kind survey from TheBump.com & ForbesWoman.com reveals insight into this hot topic
More than 30% of Working Moms Ages 30 to 34 Wish They Had First Baby at Younger Age. View Full Findings at TheBump.com/workingmomsurvey
Financial Security, NOT Fertility, Is the Top Reason When Choosing an Ideal Age to Have a Baby
NEW YORK, NY (March 2, 2010) – TheBump.com (www.thebump.com), a multiplatform brand focused on first-time moms, and ForbesWoman.com, a website for career-minded women, today revealed the results of a co-branded “Working Moms” survey. This one-of-a-kind survey, promoted on both ForbesWoman.com and TheBump.com, polled more than 2,000 women on their personal experiences and opinions when it comes to the much-debated topic of motherhood and career. This in-depth survey reveals everything from how motherhood has impacted their career to career satisfaction to when they had their first child and how they felt returning to work post-baby.
“We find women on TheBump.com always asking each other the age-old question of whether there’s ever really a ‘perfect’ age to have a baby,” says Carley Roney, editor-in-chief of TheBump.com. “As women balance biology with modern goals like a fulfilling career, bustling social life and happy marriage, there’s no doubt that women are increasingly trying to find that sweet spot on when to become a mother and have it all.”
Highlights from TheBump.com and ForbesWoman.com “Working Moms” survey results include:
25 TO 29 IS THE SWEET SPOT WHEN IT COMES TO THE “IDEAL AGE”. 42% of women surveyed responded that 25 to 29 was the “ideal age” for a working woman to have or adopt her first child. Women aged 30 to 39 were most likely to think 30 to 34 was the ideal age for a working woman to have or adopt her first child.
FINANCIAL SECURITY, NOT FERTILITY, IS THE TOP REASON WHEN CHOOSING AN “IDEAL” AGE TO HAVE A BABY. Despite all the ongoing research surrounding fertility and age, interestingly enough, fertility is not the number one factor when it comes to deciding when to have a baby. The top two reasons were financial security (33%) and being emotionally “ready” to become parents (31%).
YOUNGER MOMS MORE CONTENT WITH TIMING OF THEIR FIRST CHILD. Respondents who had their first child from 25 to 29 were the most content with the timing of their first child (82%). More than a third (35%) of moms who had their first child from 30 to 34 wish they’d had their child at a younger age, and 57% of moms who had their first child from 35 to 39 wish they’d had their child at a younger age.
62% OF WOMEN FEEL MOTHERHOOD NEGATIVELY IMPACTS A WOMAN’S CAREER. Yet working moms who were surveyed didn’t feel as strongly when it came to their own career. Non-moms were more likely to think that motherhood had a negative impact on women’s careers compared to moms and moms-to-be (71%, 59% and 58%, respectively).
NEGATIVE FEELINGS DOMINATE WHEN RETURNING TO WORK POST-BABY. Working moms surveyed chose “guilty,” “overwhelmed,” “stressed,” “sad,” and “anxious” as the top five feelings when it came to how they felt when returning to work post-baby. Working moms who “chose” to return to work were less likely to feel as negative.
59% OF WORKING MOMS NO LONGER CARED AS MUCH ABOUT WORK POST-BABY. Although 59% of working moms are “glad to be back at work” post-baby, 59% also said they “no longer cared as much” about work.
“One of the most compelling findings in the survey is that women stated financial security and being emotionally ‘ready’ as top indicators of the ideal age to have a baby,” says Francesca Donner, editor of ForbesWoman.com. “It is apparent that the decision to have a baby is dependent on many variables, and will continue to evolve along with women’s roles in the workplace and in society at large.”
About TheBump.com
The Bump is the only multiplatform brand focused on first-time moms. Our editorial team, “born” on The Knot, provides new moms with the premium content, resources, and tools they need to manage their pregnancy, birth, and first-year experiences via TheBump.com, social media, and local market guides, and points them to the perfect products and services right in their own backyards. The moms on our vibrant online community are obsessed with knowing about everything baby, and have a definitive time frame in which to learn and do it all! This passion to learn and connect offers our advertisers the consummate opportunity to reach new moms as they make essential purchase decisions for their growing families. The Bump is a division of The Knot Inc. (NASDAQ: KNOT).
About Forbes Media
Forbes Media encompasses Forbes and Forbes.com, the #1 business site on the Web that reaches on average more than 17 million people monthly. The company publishes Forbes and Forbes Asia, which together reach a worldwide audience of more than 6 million readers. It also publishes ForbesLife and ForbesWoman magazines, in addition to licensee editions in China, Croatia, India, Israel, Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia and Turkey.
Other Forbes Media Web sites are: Investopedia.com; RealClearPolitics.com; RealClearMarkets.com; RealClearSports.com; and the Forbes.com Business and Finance Blog Network. Together with Forbes.com, these sites reach on average nearly 40 million business decision makers each month.
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