And What Do You Do?

I'm back from Helsinki, where I spent four days with the kids. We did a lot (the weather was great), met some old friends and lots of relatives.

What struck me from this hugely unrepresentative sample (which I after the trip called "Finns" when telling stories to my husband) was that one of the first questions I was asked was always "And what do you do (for work)?"

In Berlin, ever since I have had kids (one/two/three), I have had to explicitly let slip into a conversation that I work. It used to drive me crazy that people were discussing work left and right of me at parties, and just assumed that because I have kids, I don't work.

An example of compatibility of work and family in Finland: A friend of mine, who recently had a baby, told me that she is planning on returning to work when her child turns one. She simply informs her employer when she will return, and what percentage she will start working at, and how she will spread this out (in her case around 80% over four days).

ps. Not representative. Anecdotal. But it sure sounds easier.
pps. My Berlin "dinner-party problem" (men have much more interesting conversations) didn't exist in Finland. Again, my sample was hugely unrepresentative, but for the first time in ages, I didn't feel like it made any difference whether I was talking to a woman or man - nor did I feel treated differently by either sex.