BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids Childfree friendly professions

What are some professions which may be especially friendly toward the childfree? I mean to say being in a profession where being childfree is not unusual and/or looked down upon.

I have already mentioned archaeology. It may perhaps be the most childfree friendly profession. I know over 10 archaeology couples who do not have children by choice and are very happy about it. These couples have also been married for a long time and work together on their archaeological studies.

What other occupations come to mind?

The Law - its not unusual to find CF couples in the Law.
I know a few CF couples at the Bar also, quite a few in private practice.
There are also, lots of single women in the law so, you never feel lonely as a CF woman.
My area is commercial crime and for the last 8-10 years, I have handled international matters involving lots of travel - this specialization is dominated by males, single women and married women with no kids. (Lots of the latter in Hong Kong)
Last year I spent roughly 10-12 weeks away from home - this year about the same overseas commitment.

Consulting...because it requires alot of travel...

I go to a small liberal arts college and many female professors don't have kids

I work in the performing arts and it's full of alternative creative types living unconventional lives! Heaps of my current and past colleagues don't have children and I don't stand out at all. Hence my workplaces have been safe, bingo-free environments. Always the CF outnumber the parents. I am so lucky that way. (ps you don;t have to be on stage to work in the performing arts - they need marketers like me, accountants, receptionists, administrators and all types...you just have to love the arts so much that you are happy to work unreasonable hours for unreasonable pay just for the thrill of watching the audiences' faces on opening night...)

Usually it's the CF who succeed and stay long term in arts management simply because of the level of passion, emotional energy and commitment you have to give to the job and the number of evenings you have to be at performances.

ps you also get to wear interesting clothes and nobody bats an eyelid...

Surprisingly enough, by far the most CF friendly places I have worked were the Labor and Delivery Unit and the NICU here at a past hospital. When people see all the downsides of delivery and premies they tend not to give anyone [censored] about not having children.

Now I work in an ER, it's not quite as CF friendly, but it's still pretty decent now a days. Almost all of the Doctors, whether they have children or not, are pretty supportive of a CF stance.

And odd hours as well. I'm just about to step off the 9 to 5 treadmill and go out consulting under an IT provider - not a step I'd be able to take on if I had kids that needed to be picked up, or run to activities after school. You just never know when and where you'll end up if a client's systems go down.

Hrm... not sure if I would call it childfree *friendly* profession... maybe...

I've found that in the IT consultancy world.. loads and loads of the women don't have kids, however a lot of the men do.. and that's because the little wife / partner sits at home and brings them up as practically a single parent, whilst the bloke works away from home all the time.

I've got a female manager who is CF, and my managers manager is CF - both have long term partners, both have cats.. and neither have kids... In FACT none of my female friends in my company have kids... none... as opposed to my male friends, when a lot are married and a lot have children - most of their partners are stay at home mothers as well.

It's a choice and to be fair, most of the men who work for our company don't ever question it.. but the clients do... the usual bingos..

It must be so great for the guys... get to be a Dad, still get to work.. go home at weekends and spend quality time with your kid and then toddle off again for another 5 days and not see your kid when they're playing up...

.. it *really* makes me wonder how on earth their partners can cope, but hey.. their relationship..

I am in high-end IT support/email support for the school system but not consulting -- regular salaried. Every other Netware/Linux engineer in in the group (7 people, one of them a woman) except one of them (a younger guy) all have children of various ages. All of them show the signs of being parents - being out of the office every now and then b/c there are no babysitters, child is sick, etc. I, on the other hand, tend NOT to take time off at the last minute for emergencies.

Take that for what it is worth...

Hi All - I'm new and haven't posted before, but I thought I'd weigh in on this one.
I'm an engineer and you don't see a lot of women in engineering (unfortunately). Since men are not as prone to talking about family life/personal issues at work, you don't get a lot of the BINGO's you might in other professions.