London: Women who return to work after having children end up in badly paid, low-skilled jobs because there are so few decent part-time vacancies in Britain, a report warns.
The research, compiled for the think-tank Resolution Foundation and the parenting website Netmums, claims women are paying a "shockingly high price for motherhood".
Their report said that many women did not want to work full-time because "they did not want to miss out on the important early years in the child's life," but were frustrated by the quality of part-time jobs available to them.
Sally Russell, co-founder of Netmums, said: "It is unbelievable that women are encouraged to climb the career ladder only to be forced back to the lowest rung when they have children."
Almost half of the 1,600 mothers questioned had limited themselves to part-time positions and had ended up taking a lower-skilled job than if they had returned to a full-time post.
After having children, many mothers who return to their previous career face clashes with employers and colleagues if they cut down their hours or refuse to work anti-social shifts, especially in small firms with fewer staff.
