Mothers in the Workforce

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In a society with the muajority of mothers joining or returning to the workforce, there is a growing body of research documenting the demands placed on these women and what can be done to help their transition into this new role. According to the United States’ Department of Labor, in the year 2012, 70.5% of mothers with children under the age of 18 were a part of the workforce; of these women 73.7% were employed full-time, working over 35 hours a week, and 26.3% were employed part-time, working less than 35 hours a week (United States Department of Labor, 2012). Given this information, it is becoming more important to further research how this new role as an employee affects the role of parenting and what can be done to help this transition. The intent of this paper is to compare the experiences of a working mother to the current research on the topic of working mothers. Moreover, this paper addresses the demands placed on working mothers as well as the factors that ameliorate their transition into this new role.

To gain insight on the role of being a working mother I interviewed my mother, Jane Smith. Smith currently works forty, or more, hours a week as an office manager for a family business. Her job requires her to be at work from eight in the morning until five or six in the evening Monday through Friday. In addition to her role as an employee, she is currently married and is a mother of four daughters. These daughters are between the ages of thirteen and twenty-one; of these four daughters, three live at home with the family while the other is currently completing a study-abroad year in Germany. Smith has been a working mother for the past seven years, before which she worked as a stay-at-home parent. Her job requires her ...

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...e study found that government aid (e.g. assistance with childcare) was less effective than workplace and family support in reducing this conflict, unless the assistance provided was an extended maternal leave following the birth of the child (Abendroth et al., 2012).

References

Abendroth, A., van, d. L., & Maas, I. (2012). Social support and the working hours of employed mothers in europe: The relevance of the state, the workplace, and the family. Social Science Research, 41(3), 581-597. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2011.12.008

Countermine, M. (2014). Lecture on Parenting. Personal Collection of M. Countermine, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA.

Smith, Jane. Personal interview. 13 Apr. 2014

United States Department of Labor. (2012). Latest Annual Data. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/wb/stats/recentfacts.htm#mothers

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