Good Career Choices for The Family-Minded Girl


I have listed ten career choices that would be good for a woman who wants to have some higher education and a job that will be in a pleasant, safe work environment with reasonably good status and pay. These jobs are all notable for allowing flexible schedules, either part-time or full-time, which would allow a mother to be focused on her family while there are children at home. At this time in the U.S. all these jobs are fairly easy to get. Education requirements range from a certificate diploma to a Master’s degree. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Occupation Educational requirement Licensure requirements Median Average
Salary
Flexible hours Benefits and Drawbacks
Nurse Associates or BSN Yes, by state 69,110 Very Can work full or part time, in many different settings, good pay relative to education level
Vet Tech Associates Yes, by state 31,570 very Pay is not high unless one works for a large research company or university
Ultrasound tech 1 yr certificate Associates
BS
Yes, by state 65,800 moderate Excellent pay relative to education level; Can work part-time
Speech-Language Pathologist MA Yes, by state and natl org 72,000 very Many different work settings; a national shortage makes finding a job easy; can work full or part time; drawback: long, difficult MA required
Occupational Therapist MA Yes by state and natl org 74,970 very Many different work settings, long MA program
Physical Therapist MA By state and natl org 79,340 very Many different work settings, good pay for an MA
Social Worker MA By state 54,220 moderate Drawback: can be low-pay relative to educational requirement; Can be flexible depending on location
Dental hygienist 2 yr certificate Associates By state 69,760 moderate Can be flexible though most jobs are full-time M-F; good pay for only a two-year degree
Physician Assistant MA By state 89,470 moderate Excellent pay but very challenging degree (basically Med school lite); can work part time; many different work settings
Home Daycare —– Need a state license to run a home daycare Approx.  $200/weekPer child Not very flexible Can work from home, which is nice if you have your own children at home; can be hard work to add more little ones; pay is not high; kids get sick a lot

Teachers and Librarians both have pleasant working conditions, reasonable salaries, and manageable hours, but at present in the United States there is a dearth of available jobs in these fields. Administrative Assistants have low educational requirements, moderate salary, very inflexible hours (8-5, M-F). A good resource for learning about various jobs is Education Portal, which allows you to compare salaries, educational requirements, and so on. On the whole, I’d say I’m not a huge fan of women in the workforce, although I myself work one half-day per week.  Being economically-dependent on one’s husband might be a good thing in some ways; it certainly would make it harder for women to bail out of their marriages, and having Mother at home is definitely what most children prefer.  However, each couple needs to navigate this issue for themselves, with the husband of course having the final veto power.