Women in Science
Balancing home and work life
Video clip: Charlotte's enjoyment of her work means she will sometimes 'choose' to work weekends.
I guess to a large extent, I mean, I really like my job. That I, you know, I - It's one of the thing I found weirdest of all when I - meeting up with friends who I went to university with or I was at school with, and they often talk about their jobs with some degree of ambivalence or even a degree of hatred. And I can't imagine doing a job I hated. I love my job. You know? Most days I want to come to work.
Yeah? I consider that to be normal. And so in terms of work/life balance, I guess my work invades my life.
To a degree which I think some people would say, "You know, that's not a good balance." But it is for me. So I'm - very regularly I'll work at the weekends. Not all weekend, but I will work at the weekends. And I don't see that as, you know, some kind of terrible imposition. I chose [laughing].
I chose to do that because I find it exciting, and because I want to do it and because I see it. You know, the - I do get frustrated that because of being head of department it's difficult for me to leave work at the times I'd like to.
So at a reasonable hour at the end of the day. Because there's a lot of things that I need to get through for colleagues, so I need to finish, and that means that I can't just go now.
And that's - I think that's the only point in time where I feel it kind of invades and I don't want it to. But you know, yeah I work lots and lots and lots, but I chose it because I really enjoy it. And I'm doing it because I want to do it. And I see it as something - you know, it's exciting and interesting to me, and I want to tell everyone about it, and I want to show them, and I want to, you know. So on one hand I could say it's awful because I spend hours and hours extra working in the university, doing twice as many hours. But that's just a lie. It's not awful, I chose. And if I didn't do that, nobody could make me. Nobody sits down with a whip over me, and I. So I think it is - it's a choice of a lifestyle that maybe doesn't suit everybody, but for me it just seems totally natural that that's how it is. And yeah. I'm okay with that.