For hundreds of years, mothers have been given the job status of being the homemaker and providing care for their children. Many definitions of a mother specifically include the words, “caring for a child”. While this statement remains true, many would argue that the definition of motherhood should be changed. Now, in the 21st century, mothers can be found in all parts of life, whether at home or at work. The status of a mother has created so much controversy between stay at home moms and working moms. In fact, the tensions have gone so far as to be entitled the “Mommy Wars”. Working moms, specifically, have had to deal with judgement and hardship because of their decision to work. The term “Mommy Wars” has been around for years, …show more content…
Working moms and stay at home moms will frequently make judgmental and harsh statements and will not associate with each other. Masters calls these two groups “alienated groups”(Masters). While most moms in the United States hold some sort of part time job, stay at home moms tend to have the loudest voice in society. These women particularly get called out on being quick to judge the choices of working moms. Although many people have accepted the idea of equality for women and their rights, they still put pressure and guilt on these mothers who are found in the workfield (). For example, in a MOM vs MOM Survey Report in 2000 it said, “65% of stay at home moms claim that working moms do not understand that raising a child is more important than maintaining a lifestyle” (). This same group of moms who were surveyed also called working moms “selfish and materialistic” and that they feel they put their own welfare before the well-being of their children. Stay at home mother Sherri Stamper of New Whiteland, Indiana said the following statement: “All of the working moms I know freely admit that they do it for material things. They know they 're doing a disservice to their children, but they can 't stand to scale back their lifestyle". Another stay at home mom, Renee Portolese of Maysville, North Carolina, has no plans to return to the workforce if she has more babies. "Now that I 'm home …show more content…
It is safe to say that children are affected by the status of their mother. In a 2013 survey it was found that while the public recognizes the clear economic benefits of having more mothers in the workplace, many are voicing concerns about the toll this is having on children. “Roughly two-thirds of adults (67%) say the increasing number of women working for pay outside the home has made it easier for families to earn enough to live comfortably. But at the same time, 74% say this trend has made it harder for parents to raise children”(Cohn). While many think working mothers affect children in a negative way, Maggie Fox of NBC News shows in a survey that this has changed. In her article it says, “Asked what the ideal situation is for young children, the share of Americans who say having a mother who does not work outside the home is ideal has declined since a 2009 Pew Research Center survey, when 43% said so, to 2012, when 33% did. A plurality (42%) in 2012 said having a mother who works part time is ideal for young children, while 16% said a full-time working mother is
(651) She disagrees because a working mother is not a threat. She said it teaches her kids to understand that women could also work outside of home.
In Cameron MacDonald, “Shadow Mothers: Nannies, Au Pairs, And the Micropolitics of Mothering”, explores the concept of what is a “good mother” when it comes to a working mother and a hire caregiver for a child. Many women are choosing to work, which requires them to hire a caregiver for their children that sometimes can take the place of the mother. There as been a rise with the employment of nannies. Many individuals in the world view mothers that work outside the home as neglecting the duties as a mother. Which sometimes cause the caregiver to step up and become this “Shadow Mother” figure for the child. The theme of the book is surrounded around this ideology of what motherhood is supposed to be when it pertains to the family;
Working Women Imagine being a single parent working full time trying to raise kids and provide for them, with a high school education at best. Employed with minimum wage, sometimes less, working single moms have the toughest jobs. They face problems at home with parenting issues and in the work place dealing with discrimination towards women or other inconveniences. Pulitzer Prize winning author, David Shipler, wrote in his book The Working Poor about working citizens, notably working mothers.
Stone (2007) conducted “extensive, in depth interviews with 54 women in a variety of professions-law, medicine, business, publishing, management consulting, nonprofit administration, and the like- living in major metropolitan areas across the country, half of them in their 30’s, half in their 40’s” (p. 15). Keep in mind these women Stone (2007) focuses on are “highly educated, affluent, mostly white, married women with children who had previously worked as professionals or managers whose husbands could support their being at home” (p. 14). Her findings revealed women are strongly influenced by two factors: workplace push and motherhood pull. “Many workplaces claimed to be “family friendly” and offered a variety of supports. But for women who could take advantage of them, flexible work schedules (which usually meant working part time) carried significant penalties” (Stone, 2007, p. 16). This quote represents the workplace push, where women are feeling encouraged to continue their rigorous careers with little to no family flexibility being offered from workplaces. The motherhood pull is a term used to describe the way mothers feel when they face the pressure of staying home to raise their children while still expected to maintain a steady job. “Motherhood influenced women 's decision to quit as they came to see the rhythms and
“The logic of intensive mothering, particularly as it applies to middle- and upper-middle-class mothers, therefore seems to be the greatest barrier to solving the problems detailed in this book….Nearly all mothers, for instance, feel they ought to be at home with their children, ought to want to be at home with their children, and ought to be their children’s primary parent.” Pg. 201 This quote from Untangling the Mother-Nanny Knot emphasizes on the fact that these working mothers need to let go a of that temperament that they must keep the nanny, their spouse and anyone else away from their child at any cost. Because they are not able to be there for their kids they can rest their mind knowing that the person with their child when they are not present is someone that will love them and care for them no matter what, and all the working mother must do is let go just a
In her essay, “Motherhood: Who Needs It?”, Betty Rollin emphasizes the pressures of motherhood that society puts on women and highlights the fact that becoming a mother is not a natural instinct.
Women have persistently been challenged with issues regarding what it means to be a ‘good mother’. Although times continue to change, issues confronting 21st century mothers, remain similar to the ones addressed in past generations. An abundance of mothers in the 21st century are still faced with the complex issue regarding the ‘stay-at-home mom’ stereotype, in spite of the fact that the feminist movement has provided women with more rights in the present-day, then ever before. However, while strides have been made, these changes have had an affect on society’s notion of motherhood. The portrayal of motherhood is determined by countless expectations in which society has established. Such expectancies have expanded, which now effect how motherhood is depicted in different cultures. As a whole the feminist movement has strongly influenced Western Society, which has resulted in women’s suffrage, the right to make individual decisions, and has also led to wide-ranging employment for women at more equivalent wages. However, the emergence of female employment has created a war between ‘stay-at-home’ and ‘working’ mothers, which is often referred to as ‘Mommy Wars’. In addition, female employment provides men with the opportunity to stay at home and become the primary caregiver, which has ultimately had a large impact on societies notion of motherhood, treating them differently than primary caregivers of the opposite gender. This paper will examine how the feminist movement has altered societies notion of motherhood in the 21st century in comparison to past generations as a result of working mothers and stay at home fathers.
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 ...
About 75 percent of the 68 million women working in the United States will become pregnant at some point in their careers. Women with children are one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. labor force. In 1975, 47% of women with children under the age of 18 were employed; by 2008, this number grew to a notable 71% (Miner et al. 60. The nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn Compared to other workers, mothers are often viewed as less competent, less productive, and less committed to their job, which is assumed to result in increased absenteeism and resignation (Byron and Roscigno 5).
One of the issues that parents are dealing with is money. They believe that they can’t have a stay at home parent, because they wouldn’t be able to live off of one parent’s salary. However what many people don’t know that the value of a stay a home parent is a lot more than one would imagine. According to Barbara Sefton, “The stay-at-home mother is on duty an average of 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. She provides a service with a market value of approximately $36,000 annually.” This is more than some individual salaries. Most do not realize how much work a stay a stay at home mom does, from c...
Men and women are working harder than ever to survive in today's tough economy. It's a big challenge for low and middle class families to survive. To meet growing demands, it's getting difficult for families to depend on one income. To contribute to family income, mothers are coming forward and joining the workforce. Working mothers are the one who takes care of the family and work outside the home. They may be a single mothers or married mothers. Working mothers usually work to support their family financially. Some of the mothers work, just because they are more career-oriented. Working mothers may work part time or full time. Women are now the primary or only income source for 40% of US households with kids, according to a new Pew survey (Wang, Parker and Taylor, ch. 1). They play a major role in raising their family and doing household chores. There are many reasons that why mothers should work.
Today these women are the minority and there has been research in which their children do not benefit from them being home. This is a great change from when people thought children of stay-at-home mothers thrived in that environment. “In the United States today, more than half of mothers with young children work, compared to 30 percent in the 1970’s” (American Academy of Pediatrics, 1999). This was research done in 1999 and in 2007 “Seventy-one percent of American mothers with children under the age of eighteen are in the labor force, meaning that they are either employed or are seeking employment (Health Researches and Services Administration, 2007). There are many reasons that women stay at work once their children are at...
Regardless of where they are in their careers, working mothers have a tough time achieving balance between work and family. Generally, women take on or are given more responsibility for their homes than are men, leading to frustration and exhaustion. In this paper we will address some of the issues involved in balancing career and family. This paper will provide some solutions for the most common problems arising from todays busy schedules, and provide some insight on how to make the most of your time.
Change in work patterns more mothers are part of the working force making households where both parents are working
Children that grow up in a household with a mom that works and is well educated tend to raise a better child that is ready to emerge into the world. Working mothers teach their children so many more valuable life skills for the real world. Never being told when exactly to do your homework, but still knowing what is and what is not acceptable teaches self-reliance. Many kids get to college and don’t know how to care for themselves, including laundry and dishwashing. In life you don’t learn a lot when everything is constantly being handed to you. Children who are raised by stay at home moms are not as prepared for the real world as those who are raised by working women. Although both mothers do work, working mothers tend to have better mental stability knowing they have more of a purpose in society. Being raised by a single mother that had to bring in money to keep the family on their feet, there was never a time that a staying home was an option. Staying at home and having your child makes them way more dependent on someone else. The ultimate goal as a mother is to raise your child to be a working asset to the community; to be an independent person and provide for themselves. Working mothers do a better job at raising children that are better suited for the real