Are Career Breaks Only For The Privileged? A Confession.
Are Career Breaks Only For The Privileged? A Confession.
The Big Question: Is embarking on a career break accessible to everyone who wants and needs it? Or is it only for the privileged?
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One can’t help but to sense the emotions of people in today's economic climate. Inflation remains elevated compared to 5 years ago, where it's really hurting a lot of people whose cost of living has gone up. And yet, not everyone has had a corresponding increase in their salary to support their families.
There are worrying conversations about an impending recession, whether it is going to be a hard or soft landing, and how it impacts jobs. So many people are worried about whether they can keep their jobs to give their family what they need.
So even though I speak to the value of taking career breaks, I don't want to be insensitive or tone deaf to whatever is going around in the economy, and how it is challenging to so many people.
I hope to go further into topics such as timing your career breaks (learn from all the things I did wrong in my first career break!) in future articles. So I’ll cover the “when” aspect in a later article, and for this article, I’d like to touch upon the “for whom” aspect.
So, is a career break only for the privileged?
While I deeply believe in the value of going on a career break, I think it is important to first address issues of privilege.
I do believe that a career break is accessible to anyone even if you get into it abruptly (p.s. If this is you, I got you. Your career break bestie has an episode lined up just to talk about an unplanned career break too). Although, for sure, it is less stressful if it is planned ahead.
At the same time, I want to acknowledge that there's certain privileges inherent that make it easier for one person to contemplate going on a career break as opposed to someone else.
I feel a little vulnerable in being transparent with some of the privileges which I have that allowed me to go on three career breaks. Yet I do feel that it is important to lay it out there. I am fully cognizant of how incredibly fortunate I am to be helped by factors beyond my personal responsibility and decisions that I've made throughout my career.
I see my privilege stemming from two main sources. In essence, I won the birth lottery. One is the country that I was born in, and the other is my upbringing.
I was born in Singapore. It is a country that became incredibly successful in a short period of time. A common phrase that was used was that it was a country that progressed from “Third World to First”. Generations before me have helped to build up the country to where it is now.
By the time I entered the job market, economic opportunities have increased, work is plentiful, such that there were jobs that I could choose to do.
It is a country that prides itself on safety. For a vast majority of us, resources are available, workplaces are sanitary, and many of us take for granted that we can work without threat to our personal safety. This is not true for workers in a great number of countries, where precarious work comes at the expense of their health or lives.
As a female and a minority in this country, there are issues, for sure. And yet, this is still a place where I have opportunities to build a career, and consequently, accumulate funds that allow me to step away from that career path in certain seasons of my life.
This is also a country where health insurance is not tied to your job. We have a basic health care insurance linked to the country's social security savings scheme, called the Central Provident Fund (CPF).
This means that the opportunity cost of taking a career break is much lower here because you don't have to give up having health insurance if you take a career break.
My other big source of privilege? My upbringing.
My parents were working for the government in stable jobs when I was born. I was raised in a safe, stable home.
We stayed in a unit in a public housing flat. It was a modest upbringing. I never felt that I lacked anything that I needed to do well, especially when it relates to education. At that time, doing well academically leads to better job opportunities, which in turn allows for career advancement.
My late father was resourceful. With three kids, money is tight. I remembered needing sports shoes, and how my father brought us to this place called Queensway Shopping Centre where we can get sports shoes at a discount.
Whenever we needed sleeping bags for school camps, my aunts told me how my dad would ask around if anyone in the extended family could lend us sleeping bags. From him, I learned the value of frugality and good money management.
I also remembered watching my late father taking up courses, such as counseling, while working as a police officer. This was way before upskilling or SkillsFuture became buzzwords of the day. So, I already had the “skills upgrading” driver pre-installed in me even before I embarked on my career.
I didn't graduate with debt. My University fees were paid out of my late father's Social Security funds, or we call it the Central Provident Fund (CPF). He was a planner who ensured his family will be taken care of even when he's gone. When he passed away when I was 21, his preparation meant that we had a sum of money that kept us afloat.
Here I also want to allude back to winning the birth lottery due to the country I was born in. There was a social safety net, such as organizations that offered me bursaries which disburse funds that made it possible for me to continue my studies in University even after my late father passed away. There was Lembaga Biasiswa Kenangan Maulud, Hokkien Huay Kuan, and Mendaki, along with the Ministry of Education Award which allowed me to graduate with a job.
I am so grateful for these, and many other privileges that allow me to participate in the workforce, progress in my career, and develop the ability to weave in and out of the job market in alignment with the different seasons of my life.
If not for the country I was born into, and my upbringing, experiencing the ability to take three career breaks, without wrecking my finances or destroying my career, would not have been possible for me.
Here are some prompts to reflect on our own sources of privilege that has helped us in our careers:
Family Background: How has your upbringing and family background provided you with opportunities that others may not have had?
Educational Opportunities: In what ways has access to education been a privilege for you? How has it impacted your career and personal growth?
Geographical Privilege: How has living in a particular country or region afforded you privileges that others in different locations might not have?
Access to Resources: What resources (e.g., technology, mentorship, professional development) have you had access to that have helped you succeed?
Workplace Opportunities: How have opportunities in your workplace or industry contributed to your success? How might these opportunities be less accessible to others?
My hope is that this episode sparks a wider conversation about how we can create a more equal playing field so that more people can have greater opportunities to reach a level of success that is meaningful to them.