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00000176-e6f7-dce8-adff-f6f770410000PublicSource is an independent, nonprofit news group that focuses on original investigative reporting about critical issues facing Pittsburgh and the Western Pennsylvania region. It was launched to undertake in-depth reporting in the public interest.PublicSource is a content partner of 90.5 WESA.More about PublicSource here.

Millennial Women Are Closing The Gender Wage Gap

Peter Tobia
/
PublicSource
Jill Ivey, 31, occasionally works out of the Shot Tower Coffee Shop on Christian Street in Philadelphia. Ivey, a communications strategist, is putting off having children because she fears it would get in the way of work.

Currently a freelancer, Philadelphia resident Jillian Ivey is faced with a dilemma about her future and identity as a young woman.

The 31-year-old communications strategist wants children with her husband of nearly three years, but she feels that being pregnant and caring for an infant would be a direct choice not to make money or build her career.

“I’ve seen clients walk away from my friends, saying things like, ‘No hard feelings, but we need someone who’s not about to pop a kid out,’” Ivey said. “Clients are contractors and vendors, not employers.”

And even with a full-time employer, Ivey said she feels it’s a gamble on whether maternity leave is offered and what kind of workplace you’ll return to if you take it.

For now, the couple is limiting their dependents to four cats and a dog.

Many of the roughly 2.9 million Millennials in Pennsylvania are putting off marriage, children and homeownership in favor of first pursuing college degrees and careers, which represents not only changing goals but also a need to pay off immense college expenses.

Read more of this report at the website of our partner PublicSource.