Having a third child kills women’s careers

A new research has shown that having three children kills a woman’s career.

It suggested that a woman who has three children is less likely to work than those with two kids, regardless of her age or the ages of her children, reports News.co.au.

The study used ABS Census data, and proved that 55% of mothers of three are in paid employment compared to 68% of mothers of two.

However according to the Australian, just 21% of the under 30 mothers with three are working, nearly half the 41% of their two-kid counterparts.

Ana Zhu, research associate at the UNSW Social Policy Research Centre and co-author of the paper, said that a gap is expected when children are younger because of the costs of childcare.

“But when the children get older you'd think those mothers with three children would be looking to get back into the workforce to be helping with things like school fees or university fees that might be coming up, yet it's still the case they are less likely to be in the workforce,” she added.

Zhu has presented the paper to the Australian Social Policy conference at the University of NSW.