Why women are leaving their side hustles

A lot of women I know put their family first - whether that means raising their own kids, supporting a spouse or taking care of elderly parents. Relationships are a high priority for me, that's for sure. If i'm not stable or happy with the relationships in my life, I'm not as content with life in general.

I know that in my experiences I see a lot of younger men doing Gig economy work. I do see a few younger women as Uber drivers or doing Instacart with a friend, for example. This work is definitely flexible but pays just a little over minimum wage in states like California. I've been doing a few jobs at night when it's not so busy and have felt a little unsafe when delivering things to shady neighborhoods. I don't think it's generally safe for women to do these types of jobs by themselves when they don't know who they will encounter. My son would often complain if I made him go with me, tethering me mostly to being at home with him. You also have to be relatively agile with a good amount of energy to keep up with this type of work. It's not like sitting in front of a computer doing data entry, especially if you want to continue to maintain that pace for many years.

I want the flexibility of being with my family, caring for my home and making sure general things like walking my dog are done properly and to my satisfaction. It's a tough situation to juggle where no matter what you choose, there never seems to be a good balance. You always have to sacrifice something to have that other thing. I used to be a full time designer @ Google and have a pretty good career where I was paid well, but I didn't have enough time with my son or a spouse or a dog. I yearned for those things, but felt like I had to give up the job I had worked so hard to achieve to spend time on the things I felt were lacking in my life. I couldn't figure out a way to "have it all" without something significantly changing.

I hope I can still pursue making a difference in this world and doing work that matters, while still keeping my family happy and not making everyone else sacrifice too much. To all the women that are making it work, kudos and i'm very proud of you. Your work often times goes under appreciated but is a valuable commitment to making our world stronger!

#workingwomen #moms #liveworkbalanceformoms #womenrock #gigeconomyforwomen