After family, work is one of the essential components of personal identity. Nevertheless the degree of importance placed upon it depends very strongly on a person's socioprofessional group and family situation. Managers and freelancers may view work as being of paramount importance and a means to self-improvement, whilst white-collar workers and labourers are less likely to share this viewpoint, particularly the lesser skilled. If having children makes both men and women reassess the importance of work, this is much more true of women in non-management positions, for whom the presence of children makes it difficult to reconcile professional and family life. Such women may, at this point, decide to give up working.