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LONDON, Mar 27, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- The negative effects of women choosing to pursue careers rather than raise children and look after elderly relatives are "enormous," says a British professor.
Alison Wolf, a professor at King's College in London, market expert and government adviser, wrote an article for Prospect magazine, "Welcome to the end of female altruism," which itemizes the losses to society when women choose careers over caring for family and volunteering within communities.
Four million more British women work now than in 1971, and 70 percent of British women now have jobs, the Daily Mail reported.
More than half of mothers with children under the age of 5 are in full-time or part-time employment, the Office for National Statistics said.
"One of the consequences is the erosion of 'female altruism,'" Wolf wrote, "the service ethos which has been profoundly important to modern industrial societies."
A recent survey found that only 6 percent of working mothers actually want to work full time. The rising cost of living, with soaring energy, taxes and mortgages, has forced many women to work.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
