Difficulties experienced by working women after having children and changes in their career planning

The purpose of this study is to determine the difficulties experienced by white-collar working women in their professional lives after having children, their ways of coping with these difficulties and the effects of these difficulties on their career planning. Qualitative research method was used in the study. The study included 16 female employees who actively work in one of the semi-private organizations in Turkey and have children. Demographic Information Form and Semi-structured Interview were used as data collection tools. Within the scope of the research, one-to-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with women who have children. The data obtained were analyzed using content analysis method. The results showed that the most important physical difficulties experienced by women when they started working after having children were insomnia and fatigue, while emotional difficulties were longing, fear, guilt, adaptation and inadequacy. Although some of the women stated that having children was advantageous in terms of career development because it increased their self-regulation skills, the majority stated that it was disadvantageous in terms of career development and that it also reduced their career prospects. In addition, almost all of the women stated that they received significant support from their mothers when they returned to work after having children, which had significant benefits for their working lives, but that this support caused psychological costs for them. The reason for this cost was that they experienced feelings of gratitude, inadequacy, disappointment and confrontation. Finally, women stated that the country's laws are inadequate in many respects, paid leave is short, there is no obligation to have a daycare center in the institution where they work, and breast feading break is short. The findings of the study are discussed by reviewing other studies in the literature, limitations are mentioned and recommendations are presented.