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Tuesday, March 9, 1999 Published at 07:26 GMT

Women keen to quit rat race

Asked why they go to work, the majority of women say: "To pay the bills".

Three-quarters of working women would quit their job if they could, according to a survey published on Tuesday.

The BBC's Kim Catcheside watches a working mother "do it all rather than have it all"
More than 5,000 working women were questioned for the survey, commissioned by the Top Santé magazine and the private health firm Bupa.

Many of those questioned said they found their jobs tough, exhausting and often unrewarding.

The survey, which claims to be the most comprehensive ever of working women in the UK, said 84% felt "disillusioned" with work.

Seven out of ten women believed they were underpaid, while six out of 10 felt overworked and 74% felt their work was damaging their health.

Glass ceiling

The BBC's Kim Catcheside: "Women are finding it increasingly difficult to juggle home and work demands"
Most women (77%) said they had to work harder than men to gain promotion despite working faster and more productively than their male colleagues.

Most working women said they worked primarily for financial reasons.

Forty-eight per cent said if money was not a factor they would choose to do nothing, while 29% said they would stick to bringing up their children.

Only 23% said they would remain career woman.

Nine out of ten women with pre-school children said they did not want to work full-time, while almost half wanted the chance to go part-time or job share.

Almost one in five were keen on working from home.

The respondents had an average age of 36 and half of them worked full-time, doing as much as 50 hours a week.

No rest for the women

Working women still do most of the household chores, according to the survey, with only 37% of couples sharing chores equally.

[ image: The majority of working women still do the lion's share of domestic chores]
The majority of working women still do the lion's share of domestic chores
A heavy workload was the biggest cause of stress (51%), followed by lack of sleep (48%), money worries (46%), lack of free time (42%) and troublesome work colleagues (34%).

Children often bear the brunt of their mothers' short fuses. Of those questioned 55% said work stress caused them to shout at their kids.

More than a third of those questioned earned more than their partners but 52% did not enjoy being the primary breadwinners.

'Running ourselves into the ground'

The editor of Top Santé, Sharon Parson, said: "Women are working themselves into the ground.

"Women are invaluable to the work force and they have fought hard for managerial, skilled and director level jobs.

" But they are also still expected to take the bulk of responsibility for the home and family as well as hold down a demanding full-time job and they're exhausted."

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