Fewer Mothers Prefer Full-time Work - Pew Research Center

[one...two...tree 2,762]

In the span of the past decade, full-time work outside the home has lost some of its appeal to mothers. This trend holds both for mothers who have such jobs and those who don't.

Among working mothers with minor children (ages 17 and under), just one-in-five (21%) say full-time work is the ideal situation for them, down from the 32% who said this back in 1997, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Fully six-in-ten (up from 48% in 1997) of today's working mothers say part-time work would be their ideal, and another one-in-five (19%) say she would prefer not working at all outside the home.

There's been a similar shift in preferences among at-home mothers with minor children. Today just 16% of these mothers say their ideal situation would be to work full time outside the home, down from the 24% who felt that way in 1997. Nearly half (48%) of all at-home moms now say that not working at all outside the home is the ideal situation for them, up from the 39% who felt that way in 1997.

The lack of enthusiasm that mothers of all stripes have for full-time work outside the home isn't shared by fathers – more than seven-in-ten (72%) fathers say the ideal situation for them is a full-time job.

Meantime, even as mothers have grown less enamored with full-time work, a new division of opinion has opened up between working moms and at-home moms on the question of whether it's good or bad for society that more mothers are working outside the home.

A decade ago, nearly identical pluralities of both groups (38% among at-home moms; 39% among working moms) said this trend was bad for society. Since then, more working mothers have come to see this trend as good for society, while slightly more at-home moms have come to see it as bad.

There are also differences in the way working moms and at-home moms assess the job they're doing as parents. Mothers working full-time give themselves slightly lower ratings as parents, on average, than do at-home mothers or mothers employed part-time.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/536/working-women

[Jenn! 918]

If money was not an object, I wonder how many people would prefer full-time work to part-time work, or even no work at all. Doesn't one's "ideal situation" assume that money would not be a factor?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

If money was not an object, I wonder how many people would prefer full-time work to part-time work, or even no work at all. Doesn't one's "ideal situation" assume that money would not be a factor?

Good point, however, if that were the general view, why has it changed over the last decade?

[Sinergy 3]

money is a factor for me, i have to feed my kids, hence my full time job that id prefer over part time or nothing.

[Jenn! 918]

money is a factor for me, i have to feed my kids, hence my full time job that id prefer over part time or nothing.

Of course, me too!

I guess I just don't understand this survey. My ideal situation would be to have enough money to not have to work, full-time or otherwise.

[Sheriff Uling 3]

Steven...

Two things:

1. This is more propaganda to keep women in a lesser role barefoot and pregnant.

2. According to the TOS, pornographic pictures are prohibited on VJ, even those made by picasso.

Hehehehe!

Cheers!!!

Sheriff Uling

[Sinergy 3]

money is a factor for me, i have to feed my kids, hence my full time job that id prefer over part time or nothing.

Of course, me too!

I guess I just don't understand this survey. My ideal situation would be to have enough money to not have to work, full-time or otherwise.

Steven...

Two things:

1. This is more propaganda to keep women in a lesser role barefoot and pregnant.

2. According to the TOS, pornographic pictures are prohibited on VJ, even those made by picasso.

Hehehehe!

Cheers!!!

Sheriff Uling

[chri'stina 190]

money is a factor for me, i have to feed my kids, hence my full time job that id prefer over part time or nothing.

Of course, me too!

I guess I just don't understand this survey. My ideal situation would be to have enough money to not have to work, full-time or otherwise.

I share your sentiment and am blessed to not have to work, but I do know women who want to work even if they don't need the money. Either because they are bored at home or want a break away from the kids during the day. I'd rather volunteer in something I really enjoy than get a job, if I was bored.

[ya falaha! 0]

You truly are blessed, Stina. I was blessed also when my children were very young. I didn't start working again until my youngest was 7. Not by choice but out of necessity. If I could afford it now I'd stay home. When I was a stay at home mom I volunteered a lot at my sons' school. That kept me from being bored.

I share your sentiment and am blessed to not have to work, but I do know women who want to work even if they don't need the money. Either because they are bored at home or want a break away from the kids during the day. I'd rather volunteer in something I really enjoy than get a job, if I was bored.

[chri'stina 190]

You truly are blessed, Stina. I was blessed also when my children were very young. I didn't start working again until my youngest was 7. Not by choice but out of necessity. If I could afford it now I'd stay home. When I was a stay at home mom I volunteered a lot at my sons' school. That kept me from being bored.

I share your sentiment and am blessed to not have to work, but I do know women who want to work even if they don't need the money. Either because they are bored at home or want a break away from the kids during the day. I'd rather volunteer in something I really enjoy than get a job, if I was bored.

I always hoped I'd be able to stay home after getting married around the time we wanted to start a family, and it really happened! So I do feel really blessed. I do some volunteer stuff at my church and I do stuff with my mother a lot during the week, so I'm rarely bored.

[Marilyn. 340]

my hubby says my job will be to raise our kids.. when we do have kids I hope to join some kind of mommy's and me program...

it would be nice to have some kind of job or something on the side but I have no idea what that would be...

I have always wanted to be a stay at home mom... my mom was and it was cool to come home after school and have her there usually with some sort of snack ready for us, like home made bread etc...

I was a nanny for a lot of years so I know that kids really miss their parents when they are not home...

[Jenn! 918]

My cousin's wife hates staying at home with the kids and wishes she could go back to work full-time. So I guess it is possible now that I think about it.

Not for me though! I would love to stay home. I hope that will be a possibility financially. Of course, I say all this now, but we don't have any kids yet, so who knows? I can just think of a million things I'd rather do with my time besides work.

[Sinergy 3]

i wish i could stay home with my kids. i miss them