Women in Science
Balancing home and work life
Video clip: Helen has found having children changed how she approached her work priorities.
Right so I suppose for me everything was, as I said I, you know, if I wanted to do something if I put my mind to it, worked hard you should be able to go out and achieve it and I suppose it's only when you start to have children, I can't just go to a conference, I have to think about it, there's other people who are demanding of your time which isn't, I mean in a totally positive sort of a way. I can't just stay at work I have to go, I can't just work on something, I have to make a decision and I hadn't had to do that before.
And I suppose, yes, so then you start to miss out because I can't just go to the pub after work with people if I want to and I suppose, well again probably I'm a little bit unusual because for example I suppose I still got promotion when my kids were young and I managed to get a fellowship etc, etc, so I wasn't, I don't think I was particularly held back from as a result of having children however moving again became a much more of a question, you couldn't just, if a job came up I wouldn't just apply lightly because there's more than me to consider. I think probably more I would see the impact on other women sort of following behind me and particularly, so I had my kids fairly late, I already had my lectureship and so nobody could take that away from me.