HiI'm starting a grad programme in consulting in September but am a few years older than the average grad. I would be very grateful if somebody could give me some insight into the rate of career progression I could expect if I was to start a family about 3 years into the job. (I know this might seem like very advance planning but it's important to me..). I'm wondering more about how women with young children are viewed in terms of promotion - if say I was managing to pull my weight would that be sufficient to ensure career advancement stays on track, or would senior people be inclined to make inaccurate assumptions that might lead to less promotions, e.g. assuming in a few years time there'll be lots of children and commitment to work will wane. Basically my question is about attitudes to women with young children, not the feasibility of juggling children and work as has been previously discussed - if they manage to work as hard as before can they safely assume they'll be treated equally when it comes to promotion?

It depends to a massive extent on the culture of the company and the personal attitudes of everyone from your line manager up. Some companies and individuals do have an attitude about this (despite the official HR line), while others genuinely make it as easy as possible for young mothers to keep their careers on track.To be perfectly honest, I'd say that being a woman with young children is going to have some kind of negative impact on your career progression with any employer (consulting or otherwise). This is not simply a matter of attitudes or assumptions on the part of your employers: maternity leave and other family demands mean that you're inevitably going to miss out on some promotion opportunities. That's one of the main reasons that women earn less on average than men.Having said that, it's perfectly possible to be a mother and have a successful career in consulting, just be prepared for your career to move forward a bit more slowly when your children are very young.

"If they manage to work as hard as before can they safely assume they'll be treated equally when it comes to promotion"Yes, although it's a huge "if". I have to say I've never seen anyone pull it off successfully. Despite the best intentions and finest planning beforehand, inevitably your priorities and focus shift from work once you have children.

It is not really a question of how hard you work but more how flexible you are willing to be.What if you are asked to work in New York for 6 months? Or you have to work away all week? And what if your husband is also away the same week? And what if your child is ill and the nanny has resigned?Realistically the consultancy lifestyle is only suited to young, single people who are willing to give up their social life for their job.

From your replies it seems working mothers aren't on the receiving end of any prejudices when it comes to being promoted, but managing to work to a standard which deserves promotion and have children at the same time is the real issue. I suspect i'm a bit naive/optimistic about achieving both. Thank you for replying.

Planner - in my experience, speed of promotion is usually a function of things that will be within your control:o At analyst / consultant / senior consultant level, your ability to get promoted will be a function of i) how highly regarded you are by the clients you've worked with (making the firm loathe to lose you); and ii) how effective you've been at ensuring you're on billable work as much as possible (those with high utilisation rates are usually in the strongest positions to push for a promotion).o At manager level and above your ability to start developing new business for the firm will be the key determinant of whether you're promoted (either through identifying new opportunities at your existing clients or by networking and working the company into new accounts).I think jj is spot on though in saying "It is not really a question of how hard you work but more how flexible you are willing to be." In practice consulting can be a tough career choice for anyone that's reached the stage in their lives where they've got children / family commitments. Most people (male and female) leave the industry when they've reached the stage where they are no longer prepared to offer the flexibility that client work is inevitably going to require (rather than leaving because they've been denied a promotion).I personally decided to look outside of consulting when I was on a project in South Africa and saw a (male) project manager only able to return to Europe to see his newborn son a couple of times in the first months after his birth. I didn't aspire to be in that position a few years hence. But if you're offering as much flexibility and making the same sacrifices as your male colleagues then I would not expect your career track to be impacted - especially as many of the biggest brands have specifically made "being attractive to returning mothers" a goal for the company.Hope this helps - and certainly doing a stint as a consultant now will keep a lot of doors open to you for the future.Tony RestellTop-Consultant.com

In your firm, estimate how many women at partner level?

Make that estimate the percentage...Let's where women want to work, and where they actually work shall we?There's a few consultancies on this list: http://www.wherewomenwanttowork.com/top50/top50_2007.aspWhat's the reality?