R 137 F

There are three years provided for any mothers to spend with their newborn babies in order to introduce them into the surrounding world until they have acquired enough knowledge to make their first independent steps without their mothers' care. This should be the ideal situation for both all babies and mothers, though today very few of them can afford to carry it out due to basically social reasons that make mothers oppose with their motherhood and consider the importance of their own role as mothers and wage-earners. According to their decision they shorten either the mental and psychical care they take of their children or the financial one which has nearly the same importance. Most families decide against their child and mothers try to get back their jobs as soon as they find an institution where they can leave their babies. There are several reasons why this is not so simple and obvious after even a few months interruption of work.

One of the most important reasons is the uncertainity in the job market. There is a great amount of highly qualified experts waiting for the jobs and the competition for a certain workplace is getting to be more and more rude and even unfair in the bad need. People go to the edge of ruin to show their bests meanwhile often forgetting about reality.
The most energetic women who devoted their lives to their professions and had spent a long period of their lives to learning for them can easily compete with their labour rivals and they can organise the everyday life of their families, though sometimes exhaustedly. These women reflect the Hungarian attitude to maternity by which girls are not educated to be mothers and to regard child raising as their main jobs.

This is why some of them who stick to the convencional roles of the family members have real reason for the sense of fear of being discharged. They have real fights for their jobs and a struggle against their feelings inside at the same time.

The other cause of the difficulties in getting back to the same workplaces is the lack of time of mothers for professional practice and experience that keeps up with the rapidly changing and improving factual knowledge in all walks of life. Three years at home is regularly too long time to maintain the existent experience if there is any after leaving school or the job. Getting back to work is almost like a new start with new, many times completely different instruments and requirements to cope with. The rigid rules of the labour conditions do not allow much time to get the hang of the work again and show hesitation. Only the ones who devote nights to refresh their knowledge and also go to vocational training’s either during the three years at home or later can survive and keep their jobs for some more but uncertain length of time.

At best, women with an intention to become mothers and earn money as well will choose a profession of which there is need or find suitable baby-sitters to substitute for themselves, which is to be a job like that. They will also have strength to do night duty either at their workplaces or at home, or at last they will decide to give up one of the two goals between which either is a full job for a whole person for a whole life.