Working moms bad for America
Categories: Money & work
Sarah Palin's nomination to the Republican Presidential ticket has brought the debate about working moms back into the media -- and into kitchens and offices across the country. Palin is both being lauded as a role model for balancing her career and her family, and berated for abandoning her children to go to work.We still live in a culture that expects more from mothers than from fathers; there's no getting around that. But political rhetoric aside, the real question is how do Americans acutally feel about working moms? Do we see the rising number of moms in the workplace as good or bad for our society at large?
A 2007 study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 41% of Americans think that the increase in mothers working outside the home is a bad thing. But that doesn't mean that the other 59% think it's good -- only 17% feel like women in the workplace is a step forward for our society. The rest say it just doesn't matter.
Who objects the most strongly to women working outside the home? Surprisingly, it's people with a college education (nearly 50% of whom say working moms are bad for society) and people over 30 (over 40% of whom think this development is bad). In other words, it's the "opt out" generation who thinks that working moms are bad for American society.
The study pointed out an interesting distinction, though, between how we see our own lives and how we judge other people's choices: among married women with children under age 18, working and stay-at-home moms rated themselves as pretty much equally happy; 50% of the working moms and 52% of the stay home moms said that they were "very satisfied" with their lives.
The bottom line would seem to be this: while we're happy with our individual choices, as a group we disapprove of women who work outside the home, and we still feel that working moms are bad for American society.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SKL 9-09-2008 @ 10:15AM
17% + 42% = 59% saying that it's good or "just doesn't matter" (using your words). As a group we do NOT feel working moms are bad for America.
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ame s 9-09-2008 @ 11:05AM
I'm a SAHM and consider myself lucky to be able to stay home. Some women can't, some women don't want to.
Next, we need an article entitled "Women Who Can't Afford to Stay Home Yet Do and Live Off Welfare and Foodstamps Are Bad For America".
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Sabrina 9-09-2008 @ 12:08PM
Women who want to work outside the home and DO are more fulfilled, and if you're happier with your life you tend to be happier and more productive, which would make them a better mother to their children. However, women who don't have a choice (be it that they must work, works at a job she really hates, or aren't able to work and want to) in what they do aren't as fulfilled, and therefore aren't as happy or productive, making them LESS of a good mother and role-model for their children.
Overall though, I believe if a mom wants to work and likes her job it is productive to society, women as a whole, and her children who grow up with a happy mother who loves them and loves her adult life as well. In the same way I fell that if a woman wants to stay home with her kids, and she can reasonably afford to do so, it makes her equally as happy with her life and therefore still a good role-model for her children. Working moms who are happy contribute to America financially AND socially, so I can't see any reason why society wouldn't approve. While happy SAHMs aren't probably that productive to society from a monetary standpoint (I am a SAHM), they are productive from a social standpoint.
It's really unhappy-with-their-situation mothers who are "bad for America", but their situation is sometimes beyond their ability to control (single moms who need to work, etc).
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c_rousseau05 9-09-2008 @ 4:20PM
As a mom with a college education and nearing my 30's I think working moms are bad for society only if they consider their career too important to make needed sacrifices (very little or no overtime, very little travel time, etc) in order to make their family life the best it can be. Absentee mothers are just as bad as absentee fathers, whether it's work that takes them away, work that follows them home, or they just plain aren't there.........those "parents" are what's bad for society. Even work from home moms, you might be there physically but are you really there for your kids? To you mothers who do work and have good family lives, your kids and spouse aren't suffering emotionally from your working and you make the time needed for your children and don't let work follow you home...I applaud you, it's hard to do it but it can be done.
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LS 9-09-2008 @ 5:54PM
This is a complex issue that's not only being oversimplified, it's being used as a "wedge issue" to constantly fan the flames of debate, and keep sniping at each other. "I'm better than you. My choices are more legitimate than yours."
Well, all moms are "working moms", it's just that some are paid for doing work outside the home. Frankly, I'm happy being a stay-at-home-mom. And I know another woman, one who is very close to me, who is very happy being a work-in-a-business mom. Could we stand in each other's shoes and be happy about it? Probably not. I would go crazy having to be away from my family every day, and she would (and has) gone a little over the edge when she's had to stay home with her child. Does that make one decision better than another? No. Both of our decisions are the "right" ones, because it's what works for our family.
Where I have a problem is when, as ame mentioned, a mother stays home and collects off of the government when she should be going to work. Or when parents have kids and then ship them off to a 24-hour nanny so they can continue their lives unencumbered by their little ankle-biters. But the overwhelming number of mothers (and fathers, frankly) in this country are doing the best that they know how with what they have. And it's not for us to bash them for it. And they're certainly not "bad for America".
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cassandra 9-10-2008 @ 12:29AM
Breaking news: working fathers a possible detriment to society! Children of working fathers report feeling neglected! Should fathers work or stay home?! America: you decide!
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Jamie 9-10-2008 @ 8:12AM
I have two children and feel very lucky to be a stay at home mom. I also have a college degree and worked as a computer programmer for 4 years before starting my family. I had intentions of staying at work, but had a hard time with the daycare system and thought I would be a better choice than a full time nanny. I am still very lucky that my Husband makes enough money to take care of our family. It does leave a heavy burden on him as it is difficult to change jobs when unsatisfied. I would be glad to have him stay home, and plan on doing so, once the children are older and in school. My Husband has a difficult time with the younger ages as he can NOT stand sticky messes. I have a 14 month old. Everything in my house gets sticky. I know there are people that choose to or even have to go to work. I applaud them. It is difficult to be a career mom. I keep myself busy enough being a stay at home mom. You have to do what works for your family. But, like the other poster commented on, make sure you are flexible too. When it does not work, try to find a way to make a change. My sister does not need the money and chooses to work. Her job takes her away from her daughter. Her Husband also has a job that takes him away from his daughter. I have had an opportunity to speak to her and she is seriously depressed. My sister tries to buy her love with video gaming systems and an iPhone. All very good for an almost 10 year old right? I know kids would rather have a parent around than every toy at Macy's. My kids have fun with dollar store toys.
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