Ann Romney aside: stay at home moms and the "mommy wars"
Prompted by the 鈥渕ommy wars鈥� political dustup last week (Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen set off a tempest when she said that stay-at-home mom Ann Romney 鈥� wife of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney 鈥� had never worked a day in her life) the Pew Research Center sent out a roundup of some of its recent studies related to women, work and motherhood.
The studies are fascinating. And taken together, they seem to show what the Ms. Rosen versus Ms. Romney debate also seemed to suggest: As a society, and as individuals, we鈥檙e quite conflicted about the best role for mom.
Nearly three quarters of American adults say 鈥渢he trend toward more women in the workforce has been a change for the better,鈥� according to the Center. And 62 percent believe that a marriage where both partners have jobs and share the housework is more satisfying than the old separate spheres model of the husband working outside the house and the wife taking care of the home.
(These facts are from two recent Pew reports 鈥� 鈥淭he Generation Gap and the 2012 Election鈥澛� from Nov. 2011 and 鈥淭he Decline of Marriage and Rise of New Families鈥� from Nov. 2010.)
But when it comes to working moms, the tone changes.
Take a look at some of these stats from a 2009 report, 鈥淭he Harried Life of the Working Mother.鈥�
According to that research, only 21 percent of adults say society has benefited by the trend of more mothers of young children working outside the house. And for their part, the majority of working moms (62 percent) say they would prefer to work only part time, while 50 percent of mothers with kids under the age of 5 鈥渃ompletely agreed鈥� that too many children are being raised in day care centers.
But it鈥檚 not, as Rosen seemed to suggest, the wealthy, extra-privileged women who are likely to stay at home with their children. In fact, the Pew studies show, stay-at-homes are more likely to have lower incomes and less education than their working peers.
Only 21 percent of stay-at-home moms are college graduates, compared to 34 percent of working moms. Thirty-seven percent of stay at home moms report a household income of less than $30,000 a year.聽
There is one clear statistical benefit that stay at home moms do have over working moms, according to Pew:
鈥淥nly鈥� 26 percent of mothers who don鈥檛 work outside the home report that they 鈥渁lways feel rushed.鈥� For moms working full time, that number is 41 percent. Part time work doesn鈥檛 help much with the crunch 鈥� 40 percent of moms with part time jobs said they constantly feel rushed.
