research on working mothers

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What research says about the kids of working moms

We spotlight research on working moms. Overall, the research suggests maternal employment has little impact on kid's behavior and academic achievement over the short term and may have long-term benefits.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .

by Denise-Marie Ordway, The Journalist's Resource August 6, 2018

This <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org/economics/working-mother-employment-research/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org">The Journalist's Resource</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://journalistsresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cropped-jr-favicon-150x150.png" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">

Most American moms work outside the home. Nearly 70 percent of women with children under age 18 were in the labor force in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

In recent decades, as more mothers take paid positions, families, policymakers and scholars have wondered how the trend may impact children, especially during their early years. Many women, single parents in particular, must work because they either can’t afford to stay at home to raise their kids or the government agencies they rely on for assistance require them to be employed.

Work is also a choice for a lot of women. As more women in the United States complete college degrees — the percentage of women earning bachelor’s degrees skyrocketed between 1967 and 2015  — many have opted to leave their youngsters with a family member or daycare provider while they pursue careers and other professional interests.

Is this trend good or bad? Are kids with working moms different from kids whose moms are unemployed? Do they have more or fewer behavioral problems? Are their academic skills stronger or weaker? Let’s look at what the research says.

The good news: Overall, maternal employment seems to have a limited impact on children’s behavior and academic achievement over the short term. And there appear to be benefits in the long-term. A study published in 2018 finds that daughters raised by working moms are more likely to be employed as adults and have higher incomes.

Below, we’ve gathered a sampling of the academic research published or released on this topic in recent years. If you’re looking for workforce trend data, check out the U.S. Department of Labor’s website , which offers a variety of reports on women at work. A May 2018 report from the Pew Research Center, “7 Facts about U.S. Moms,” provides some useful context.

———–

“When Does Time Matter? Maternal Employment, Children’s Time With Parents, and Child Development” Hsin, Amy; Felfe, Christina. Demography , October 2014. DOI: 10.1007/s13524-014-0334-5.

Do working moms spend less time with their children? And if they do, does that hurt kids’ cognitive development? Amy Hsin from Queens College-City University of New York and Christina Felfe of the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland teamed up to investigate.

The gist of what they found: Mothers who work full-time do spend less time with their children, but they tend to trade quantity of time for better quality time. “On average, maternal work has no effect on time in activities that positively influence children’s development, but it reduces time in types of activities that may be detrimental to children’s development,” Hsin and Felfe explain. Each week, kids whose mothers work full-time spend 3.2 fewer hours engaged in “unstructured activities” — activities that don’t require children and parents to be actively engaged and speaking to one another — compared to kids whose moms are unemployed.

The researchers also find that children with college-educated mothers spend more time on educational activities as well as “structured” activities, which require kids to be actively engaged with their parents. “For example, college-educated mothers and their partners spend 4.9 hours and 2.5 hours per week, respectively, engaged in educational activities with their children; by comparison, mothers with less than [a] high school diploma and their partners spend only 3.3 hours and 1.7 hours per week in educational activities, respectively,” according to the study.

Maternal employment, generally speaking, appears to have a positive effect on children’s cognitive development. “When comparing the effect of maternal employment on child outcomes between stay-at-home mothers and mothers who work full-time, we see that the reduction in unstructured time resulting from full-time employment amounts to an improvement in children’s cognitive development of 0.03 to 0.04 SD [standard deviation],” the authors write. For children under age 6, the improvement is larger.

“Learning from Mum: Cross-National Evidence Linking Maternal Employment and Adult Children’s Outcomes” McGinn, Kathleen L.; Castro, Mayra Ruiz; Lingo, Elizabeth Long. Work, Employment and Society , April 2018. DOI: 10.1177/0950017018760167.

These researchers analyzed data from two surveys conducted across 29 countries to examine how men and women had been influenced by their mother’s work status. The main takeaway: Daughters raised by working mothers are more likely to have jobs as adults — and those who have jobs are more likely to supervise others, work longer hours and earn higher incomes.

There doesn’t appear to be a link between maternal employment and employment for sons, according to the study. However, men whose mothers worked while they were growing up spend about 50 minutes more caring for family members each week than men whose moms didn’t work.

The study, led by Kathleen L. McGinn of Harvard Business School , notes that these outcomes are “due at least in part to employed mothers’ conveyance of egalitarian gender attitudes and life skills for managing employment and domestic responsibilities simultaneously. Family-of-origin social class matters: women’s likelihood of employment rises with maternal employment across the socio-economic spectrum, but higher incomes and supervisory responsibility accrue primarily to women raised by mothers with more education and higher skill jobs.”

“Increasing Maternal Employment Influences Child Overweight/Obesity Among Ethnically Diverse Families” Ettinger, Anna K.; Riley, Anne W.; Price, Carmel E. Journal of Family Issues , July 2018. DOI: 10.1177/0192513X18760968.

This study looks at how maternal employment affects the weight status of Black and Latino children from low-income families in Boston, Chicago and San Antonio. The researchers find that an increase in a mother’s “work intensity” — for example, when a mother transitions from being unemployed to working or switches from part-time to full-time work — increases the odds that her child will be overweight or obese.

Kids whose mothers increased their work schedules during the children’s first few years of life were more likely to have a weight problem. “Children of mothers who increased their employment status during children’s preschool years had over 2.6 times the odds of being overweight/obese at 7 to 11 years of age compared with children of nonworking mothers,” the authors write. They also write that their results “suggest that changing work schedules and increasing work hours over time may be more disruptive to family environments and child weight than maintaining constant levels of employment over time (whether that is not working at all or working full-time).”

The researchers note that within their sample of 602 children, having consistent family routines such as mealtimes and bedtimes were associated with a 61 percent reduction in the odds of being overweight or obese. They also note that youth whose parents live together, whether married or not, tended to have lower odds of being overweight or obese than children living with single mothers.

“The Effect of Maternal Employment on Children’s Academic Performance” Dunifon, Rachel; Hansen, Anne Toft; Nicholson, Sean; Nielsen, Lisbeth Palmhøj. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 19364, August 2013.

Rachel Dunifon , the interim dean of Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology, led this study, which explores whether maternal employment improves children’s academic achievement. Dunifon and her colleagues analyze a data set for 135,000 children who were born in Denmark between 1987 and 1992 and followed through the ninth grade.

A key finding: Danish children whose mothers worked during their childhood had higher grade-point averages at age 15 than children whose mothers did not work. And children whose mothers worked between 10 and 19 hours a week had better grades than kids whose mothers worked full-time or only a few hours per week. “The child of a woman who worked between 10 and 19 hours per week while her child was under the age of four is predicted to have a GPA that is 2.6 percent higher than an otherwise similar child whose mother did not work at all,” the authors write.

The researchers suggest their paper “presents evidence of a positive causal linkage between maternal work hours and the GPA of Danish teens. These associations are strongest when mothers work part-time, and among more advantaged mothers, and are not accounted for by mothers’ earnings.”

“Maternal Work Early in the Lives of Children and Its Distal Associations with Achievement and Behavior Problems: A Meta-Analysis” Lucas-Thompson, Rachel G.; Goldberg, Wendy A.; Prause, JoAnn. Psychological Bulletin , November 2010. DOI: 10.1037/a0020875.

This is an analysis of 69 studies that, over the span of five decades, look at the relationship between maternal employment during children’s early years and children’s behavior and academic performance later in life. Overall, the analysis suggests that early maternal employment is not commonly associated with lower academic performance or behavior problems.

The analysis did, however, find differences when comparing different types of families. Early maternal employment was associated with “positive outcomes (i.e., increased achievement and decreased behavior problems) for majority one-parent samples,” explain the three researchers, Rachel G. Lucas-Thompson , now an assistant professor at Colorado State University, and Wendy A. Goldberg and JoAnn Prause of the University of California, Irvine. Early maternal employment was associated with lower achievement within two-parent families and increased behavior problems among study samples comprised of a mix of one- and two-parent families.

The researchers offer this explanation: “The results of this meta-analysis suggest that early maternal employment in sole-provider families may bolster children’s achievement and buffer against problem behaviors, perhaps because of the added financial security and health benefits that accompany employment, as well as improved food, clothing, and shelter because of increased income and the psychological importance of having a role model for achievement and responsible behavior. In contrast, early maternal employment may be detrimental for the behavior of children in two-parent families if the increases in family income do not offset the challenges introduced by maternal employment during children’s early years of life.”

There were differences based on household income as well. For families receiving welfare, the researchers found a link between maternal employment and increased student achievement. For middle- and upper-class families, maternal employment was associated with lower achievement.

The researchers note that they tried to gauge how child-care quality might influence these results. But there weren’t enough studies to allow for a detailed analysis.

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About The Author

Denise-Marie Ordway

Working Moms Are Mostly Thriving Again. Can We Finally Achieve Gender Parity?

So much has changed since a groundbreaking study found that daughters of working moms often perform better in their own careers than daughters of stay-at-home moms—and are just as happy, to boot.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across higher education and corporate America have continued to broaden opportunities for women in the workplace over the intervening five years, but the COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench into many a working mom’s fragile work-life balance. Kathleen McGinn, the Harvard Business School scholar behind the original research , continues to study gender and employment, and points to some surprising new developments for working moms. Despite all the upheaval, the changes aren’t all bad.

“Children got to see how their moms and dads managed to be good parents and good employees at the same time.”

In April 2020, McGinn and HBS assistant professor Alexandra C. Feldberg embarked upon a new survey of parents in two-earner households with kids under 18 at home. Across several papers recently presented at the Academy of Management meetings in Boston, they sought to understand how parents allocated their time and how it affected their families.

“There’s good news and mixed news,” says McGinn, the Cahners-Rabb Professor of Business Administration at HBS. Women have seen employment gains, while some gender roles have remained firmly entrenched thanks to outdated household norms and workplace demands, she observes.

One silver lining of the pandemic for family dynamics, tying back to McGinn’s prior research: Homebound parents modeled less gendered approaches to multitasking for their kids during lockdown, which their kids will hopefully retain in their own working lives. “Children got to see how their moms and dads managed to be good parents and good employees at the same time,” McGinn says.

The kids are OK

McGinn and colleagues’ 2019 work put new context around the age-old career-versus-stay-at-home debate. Across two multinational datasets spanning 29 countries and two decades, they found that adult daughters of employed moms are more likely themselves to work, are more likely to be supervisors, and are more likely to earn higher wages than the daughters of mothers who stayed at home full time. The effects remained, even after controlling for parents’ education and type of employment.

Men raised by moms who were employed show no differences in employment relative to their peers raised by moms who stayed home, but they report spending more time with their own families. This is especially important as both men and women strive for greater involvement with loved ones while also pursuing their careers.

“Our finding that maternal employment doesn’t affect kids’ happiness in adulthood is really important.”

The results probed whether adult children of employed moms are as happy as those of stay-at-home moms, and found that daughters’ and sons’ own self-reports indicate no differences in happiness related to mothers’ employment status.

“People still have this belief that it’s detrimental to their children when moms are employed,” said McGinn at the time. “So our finding that maternal employment doesn’t affect kids’ happiness in adulthood is really important.”

In analyses exploring the mechanisms underlying these differences, the authors found that the effects were strongest for women and men who were parents themselves, suggesting that working mothers modelled the work-home juggle successfully, showing their sons and daughters that it could be done and how.

Not stay-at-home—but work-from-home

Since then, COVID-19 upended life at work and at home: For a while, many mothers and fathers brought their jobs home because they had no choice.

First, the good news: While much has been written about how the pandemic was enormously taxing on moms—and how they fled the workforce at a much higher rate than fathers—this didn’t have lasting career ramifications. By May 2023, the number of employed moms was at its historic peak .

“COVID-19 did not destroy all the gains moms have made, and that’s good news.”

“Now, 77.5 percent of women in the US are employed, which is a higher proportion of working mothers than we’ve seen since data were first collected in 1948. COVID-19 did not destroy all the gains moms have made, and that’s good news,” McGinn says. Similarly, some of the changes to work instituted in response to COVID-19—such as remote or hybrid work—have the potential to enhance parents’ ability to balance family time with employment.

There are also caveats: Economists are weighing in on the exact nature of women’s new jobs—whether they’re lower-paying or fall outside of a woman’s chosen field. In addition, other employment changes either instituted or reinforced during the pandemic—such as frequent team meetings and expectations of instant responses to all requests—undermine both women’s and men’s ability to balance their personal and professional lives. “Because everything’s online, you’re on 24/7. That’s unsustainable,” McGinn says.

But McGinn is optimistic, noting that many of the women she and her coauthors surveyed are leaving traditionally gendered jobs such as teaching and nursing for higher-paying fields with better hours. “In our data, we are not seeing women take on lower-paying jobs. But we are seeing women take different kinds of jobs,” she says.

Dads’ work-life balance is altered, as well

McGinn also found that fathers are beginning to recognize the toll of parenting on work and the need for more flexible work-life balance. But there’s a catch.

“From our data—and it looks like other scholars are seeing the same thing—dads are still not as willing to make these demands on their employers.”

“The bad news is that dads still are not taking full advantage of flexibility employers are willing to offer. From our data—and it looks like other scholars are seeing the same thing—dads are still not as willing to make these demands on their employers. And when men do request flexibility, they are less likely than women to say they’re doing so to accommodate their family’s needs.” McGinn says. This is especially true of high-wage-earning fathers who might feel hamstrung by the always-on workplace culture.

“Dads were exposed [to family demands]. The shock was real. They did see it, they acknowledge it, they sort of understand it. And yet they feel they don’t have a lot of opportunity to create big changes in the household because of the perceived demands of their employers,” she says.

The way the office changed (or needs to)

As for the future: The onus is on companies to promote a more egalitarian workplace that reflects modern demands, such as flexibility and less face time. The stereotype of a devoted worker willing to put in limitless hours is becoming obsolete, McGinn finds.

“Organizations are going to have to deal with the fact that the ‘ideal worker’ is gone,” she says. “Increasingly, neither men nor women want their lives to revolve entirely around work. Organizations can’t just keep expecting their employees to sacrifice everything for their jobs; they’re going to have to figure that out.”

Two simple ways that companies can help balance the scales for caregivers:

Reduce commuting. Workplaces should consider when employees truly need to be in the office.

“Hybrid work, where you’re in the office when you’re needed but don’t have that extra hour- or two-hour commute when you don’t have to be at the office is critical for families. It means an hour or more in every one of your employees’ lives, which is better for parents and better for the environment. That’s a big pandemic takeaway, and both moms and dads are really valuing it,” McGinn says.

Reduce make-work meetings . She urges employers to examine what she calls “extraneous work” and “ collaboration overload .”

“When you’re in meetings all of the time, that’s a reduction in productivity, not an increase in productivity,” says McGinn. “Organizations need to start looking at expectations that everybody’s going to be working with everybody all of time and start saying: ‘How can we change this?’”

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Feedback or ideas to share? Email the Working Knowledge team at [email protected] .

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Workplace wellness programs for working mothers: A systematic review

Ernawati ernawati.

1 Public Health Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Tarumanagara, Jakarta Barat Indonesia

2 Medicine Study Program, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung Indonesia

Fitriana Mawardi

Roswiyani roswiyani.

3 Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Tarumanagara, Jakarta Barat Indonesia

Melissa Melissa

Guswan wiwaha.

4 Public Health Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung Indonesia

Dany Hilmanto

5 Pediatry Department Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung Indonesia

Associated Data

Available from the corresponding author on request.

This systematic review aimed to uncover the evidence and benefits of employers' commitment to delivering workplace wellness programs for working mothers.

The articles published in PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and AgeLine‐Medline databases between 2012 and 2021 were searched to evaluate the workplace wellness programs for working mothers with at least one resultant wellness or wellbeing (e.g., physical health, less stress, mental health, burnout, depression, smoking, bullying, alcohol consumption, overweight), work‐life balance outcome, or job satisfaction.

Eight studies that met the criteria were retrieved from databases. They showed some effective workplace wellness programs that can reduce depression, stress, and burnout, improve mental health, healthy behaviors, work‐family balance and work‐life balance. Working mothers participating in a workplace wellness program generally gain some benefits; one of which is reduced stress typically related to childcare, economic, and personal health issues.

Conclusions

The implementation of workplace wellness programs for working mothers showed positive effects on their health problems and health costs. These eight studies revealed that workplace wellness programs specifically designed for working mothers can lead to time efficiency by holding the programs in or near the workplace and implementing them during the workdays. This greatly suits the conditions of many working mothers whose limited time and energy to balance the household, family and work tasks.

1. INTRODUCTION

Recently, there has been an increase in chronic diseases in the working population with increasing medical expenses. 1 , 2 This has an impact on the life quality of employees and their families, as well as harming the sustainability of their company's economic interests. 1 It is important to carry out health promotion and health protection intervention in the workplace, 1 including disease prevention programs, for all of the employees. Workplace wellness programs supported by policies can have some advantages, such as mitigating health risks and optimizing the employees' quality of life. 3 , 4

A comprehensive setting and proper synchronization between programs, environmental supports, policies, advantages, and relations to the community are highly required to obtain maximum safety and health needs of all workers. 3 According to Berry et al (2011), a workplace wellness program is a program designed systematically and sponsored by the employer to develop healthy behaviors to minimize health risks, improve life quality, gain efficiency and effectiveness, and bring positive impacts on the organization's bottom line. 5 Workplace wellness programs consist of several activities: screening actions to monitor health risks (e.g., measurement of body weight, biometric measures), preventive interventions to minimize health risks (e.g., vaccination, smoking cessation, physical activities, weight management counseling, access to fitness facilities, stress management, supportive social and physical environments, wearing personal protective equipment), health promotion to improve a healthy lifestyle (e.g., healthy food options, health education, company policies, workplace bullying), and disease management (e.g., health insurance, on‐site medical health centre such as a clinic for workers with or without their families). 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 Emmons et al. evaluated a workplace health education initiative targeting smoking, diet, and physical activity. 7 Workers in the intervention condition developed an improved healthy diet and exercise behaviors; however, these did not affect their levels of smoking. 7 Sorensen et al. found that a comprehensive workplace malignancy prevention intervention conducted at 15 manufacturing plants reduced the number of smoking stages. 8 As a result, smoking levels dropped significantly over the 2 years, but a healthy diet did not improve. Golaszewski et al. found that there was an improvement in the workplace environment of a U.S. government's department for over 3 years. 9 There was a decline found in the hours taken by workers for sick leaves, progress in the worksite environment, and stable employees' risk statuses although some of them were getting older. 9 Short et al. reported the results to Prudential Financial in which physically active workers had a good level of high‐density lipoproteins (HDL). 8 The workers joining a disease controlling program were also found to have a declined level of low‐density lipoproteins (LDL) and cholesterol in 1 year matched to a group of non‐participants. 10 Byrne et al. presented the findings of their seven‐year research (2003–2009) at Vanderbilt University, in which the application of health promotion programs had improved the physical activities of employees from 73% to 83%. 11 Jackson et al. reported that there was a decline in blood pressure and an increased level of awareness among the workers after the interventions through health education for 6 months (86%). 12 Merrill et al. compared the employees of Lincoln Industries with those outside Lincoln Industries in terms of four wellness indicators, namely emotional health, physical health, access to health‐related services, and engagement in healthy behaviors. 13 It was found that the employees of the Lincoln Industries were better than those outside in three of the four indicators, namely emotional health, physical health, and engagement in healthy behaviors. Neville et al. carried out an 8‐year study and revealed that there was an improvement in the health condition of workers with chronic diseases. 14 Long‐standing involvement was linked to Body Mass Index (BMI), adjusted blood pressure, cholesterol, and with the highest advantages discovered in the highest‐risk group. Berry et al. reported that a U.S. software provider, SAS Institute (The Statistical Analysis System), ran its own worksite full‐service health clinics for workers and their families. 15 The services included consultation with a dietician, allergy shots, blood tests, consultation with a psychotherapist, and physical therapy. Workers generated a connection with a primary care physician (a medical home) which guaranteed the continuity of care. 15

Not all worksites provide workplace wellness programs aimed specifically at working mothers with special conditions with their triple burdens of taking care of their nuclear family, parents, parents‐in‐law, and the demands of the worksite. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 16 , 17 Not all workplace wellness programs showed positive results on the workers' wellness in the short time as reported from the RAND Employer Survey by one employer that did not succeed significantly in lowering cholesterol levels, 2 and Burke says on Hochart and Lang's research at Blue Cross Blue Shield in weight loss. 6 The success of workplace wellness programs requires consistency and a long period of time to assess their success. 2 , 6 Thus, a systematic review is needed to understand better the evidence associated with the implementation of wellness programs in the workplace.

Working mothers as part of the workers' community are more vulnerable to various health problems compared men or other working women. Health risks emerge from both workplace factors and family factors, which sometimes are correlated to each other. Working mothers often have to carry out multiple responsibilities at the same time, namely as a housewife, mother raising children, 5 working woman. 17 The amount of work they have at home and at work often makes them lack time, energy, physical capacity, psychological acceptance, and endurance. 17 , 18 There are also many working mothers who do not receive full support from their spouses or families in terms of burden‐sharing due to cultural influences. Furthermore, there is a lack of support from the workplace for them. Not many companies run workplace wellness programs specifically designed for working mothers. 17 , 18 Many working mothers complain of frequent fatigues, 18 headaches, back pain, circulatory disorders, poor nutritional status. They also suffer from gynecological problems, miscarriages, premature deliveries, urinary tract infections and other diseases, sexual harassment, emotional and mental disorders. A number of health and psychological problems 18 , 19 are faced by working mothers which affect their children. Babies with low birth weight or birth defects as well as adolescent children of working mothers are more delinquent. 3 , 18

Some working mothers speak of how they allocated urgency to their inflexible needs, i.e., caring and work duties, rather than ‘optional’ health and wellness‐promoting behaviors due to lack of time and energy. 3 , 20 That is the reason why working mothers are in dire need of support from the worksite in the form of workplace wellness programs to help them maintain physical and psychological health. The opportunities and support provided to them to do physical activities, relieve stress, obtain flexible working time, healthy food, and health information should be based on the types of work they do and their work environment. 21

We have attempted to find previous research on the implementation of workplace wellness programs for working mothers; however, there was only little of it. Tucker et al. reported on 58 nurses (30 interventions and 28 controls) who provided replicated measures of body composition and physical activity (steps) at baseline and after the intervention. 22 In both groups, the average daily steps at baseline and after intervention exceeded 12 400. There were no significant results for physical activity, but significant results for fat index, fat mass, and percentage of fat ( P  < .03). The employer promised of targeting the wellness of working mothers. 22 Dixon reported that 44 working mothers from a university in the Southwestern United States contributed to focus group inquiries concerning their physical activities, sports participation, paths they bargained for those barriers, difficulties in partaking, and suggestions for modification. 23 The findings showed that guilt, rigid timetables, and narrow programming restricted the activity involvement with limits being varied by marital status and social class. 23

Therefore, this systematic review aims to find the workplace wellness programs that have previously been run for working mothers as well as their outcomes. There are two research questions that we aim to address: (1) What kind of workplace wellness programs have previously been run for working mothers?, and (2) What are their outputs on the working mothers?

2. MATERIAL AND METHODS

2.1. search strategy and study eligibility.

We used the 2020 Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses ( PRISMA) guidelines for this systematic review. 24 The data needed for this systematic review were collected from AgeLine‐Medline, Embase, PubMed and Scopus databases by the Boolean operator using the keywords “occupational” OR “workplace” AND “wellness” AND “programs” AND “working” AND “mothers”. The original articles from these databases are in English. They were published between 2012–2021. The data were collected from 2012–2021 because we only focused on the development of the past 10 years regarding the workplace wellness program of working mothers to find out how much awareness and attention employers have on the wellness for working mothers. The search date was 12 January 2022. The search strategy structure used was based on the PICOS‐style approach. The population of the research must have working mothers under 65 years old. The intervention programs used were any workplace wellness programs consisting of screening activities to recognize health risks (e.g., monitoring of body weight, biometric measures); preventive interventions to address manifest health risks (e.g., smoking cessation, weight control counseling, physical activities, vaccination, access to fitness facilities, stress management, supportive social and physical environments, wearing personal protective equipment); health promotion to improve healthy lifestyle (e.g., healthy diet options, health education, company policies, workplace bullying); disease management (e.g., on‐site medical clinics and health insurance for workers with or without their families). 2 , 3 , 4 , 16 , 17 The outcomes of the research were the conditions of the working mothers in terms of the mental health, physical health, job satisfaction, work‐life balance, depression, stress levels, burnout, alcohol consumption, smoking, overweight, and bullying. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 16 , 17

We selected only the original full‐text articles in English (published studies) with any kind of study design (such as cross‐sectional, longitudinal, survey, RCT, qualitative study) and with working mothers doing any kind of occupation. The workplace wellness programs carried out at least one screening activity to identify health risks (e.g., monitoring body weight, biometric measures) or preventive interventions to reduce health risks (e.g., physical activity, weight control counseling, vaccination, smoking cessation, access to fitness facilities, stress management, supportive social and physical environments, wearing personal protective equipment) or health promotion to improve healthy lifestyle (e.g., healthy diet options, health education, company policies, workplace bullying) or disease control (e.g., health insurance and on‐site medical clinics for workers with or without their families), but not any breastfeeding programs, because Kin JH et al have carried out an updated systematic review related to workplace lactation interventions until September 2017. 25 The articles were omitted if there were no working mothers among the respondents, no workplace wellness programs implemented, and no outcomes mentioned. The criteria for working mothers were women working pregnant or having a minimum of one child of any age.

2.2. Data extraction and quality assessment

The PRISMA guidelines were used during the data collection process, as shown in Figure  1 . The current research team consisted of 7 authors (4 physicians and 3 psychologists). The concept was created by four of the authors, namely E, DH, GW, and ST (E and ST as the originator of ideas when the first PICO concept was and DH and GW provided input and correction for the first PICO concept). Of 941 articles, 14 were removed due to duplication, and 827 were excluded after the titles and abstracts were reviewed by E, M, R and F independently (E and M re‐checked after being chosen together with R and F). Of 100 full‐text articles, 53 articles were excluded after finding out that no working mothers were involved as the research respondents; no workplace wellness programs were implemented; no original articles were found out. Of the remaining 47 articles, 39 were excluded by E, M, R and F independently because there were neither specific working mothers mentioned in the respondent section nor specific workplace wellness programs implemented. The seventh author (DH) was consulted when there were disagreements among the rest of the authors. The methodology review was carried out by E, DH, GW, and ST. Finally, there were 8 articles included in the review with 2 were published in 2014, 2 in 2016, 3 in 2017 and 1 in 2020.

Article selection using PRISMA 2020.

2.3. Statistical analysis

Based on the final search output, there were only 8 articles considered eligible for this systematic review, consisting of 2 qualitative studies and 6 quantitative studies. Clarke contends, “systematic review does not need to combine the results of the studies to provide an average estimate” when such heterogeneity in methodology exists. 26 Therefore, in this study, the data were collected and synthesized through narrative interpretation. Approaches to the results were organized based on the study designs, occupations, workplace wellness programs, and outcomes. The results were presented in Table  1 . Every implemented workplace wellness program had an outcome, and the survey study showed the report from their workplace.

Description of the study findings

2.4. Risk of bias assessment

Quality assessment of the selected studies was appraised with the ‘QualSyst created by Kmet and teammates using a checklist consisting of 14 questions to assess the quantitative studies and 10 questions to examine the qualitative study. 27 They set up a cut‐off of 75% for quantitative papers and 55% for qualitative papers. The total details of quality reviews of personal studies were provided in Supplement 1 . Based this quality assessment by Kmet and teammates, quality interpretation for quantitative papers is considered “strong” if the summary score is >0.80, “good” if the summary score is 0.71–0.79, “adequate” if the summary score is 0.50–0.70, and “limited” if the summary score is <0.50. For qualitative papers, a score of ≥0.55 is categorized as “adequate” while a score of ≤0.54 is considered as “low‐quality”. 27 Each study quality assessment is shown in Supplement 1 .

The 8 articles consisted of two qualitative, one RCT, one questionnaire survey, one longitudinal and three cross‐sectional study. All of them show adequate results for qualitative studies and are strong for quantitative studies after doing a quality assessment using QualSyst tool. Six of them were conducted in the USA, one in Thailand, and the other was in the UK. Three of them had physicians as their respondents, while the rest did not. 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35

3.1. Workplace wellness programs

Workplace wellness programs mentioned in the eight studies consisted of indoor walking clubs, worksite pedometer challenges, recipe contests, social support (exercising or eating healthy food together), extra free time provided during the workday for workers to exercise or choose a continuing education class, working hour flexibility, work environment stimulation, activities during free time, maternity leaves, job reward, workplace integration and support, institution‐affiliated child‐care and Authentic Connections Groups (ACG) programs with 12 sessions (1. Introduction, 2. Minimizing rumination, 3. Children's pain and go‐to committees, 4. Obstacles for connecting authenticity, 5. Anger/hurt, 6. Support wallets, 7. Assertiveness and mentorship at work, 8. “Good enough” mothering, 9. Continuity after termination 10. Shame versus self‐compassion, 11. Limit‐setting and affection, 12. Prioritize tending) that have working mothers. 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 According to the author, many other workplace wellness programs in the worksite can be added to suit the needs and abilities of employees; however, they have not been designed to accommodating other working mothers' needs (for example, on‐site clinics that can serve reproductive health problems for working mothers, health insurance related to diseases specifically for reproductive organs in working mothers, special health checks on reproductive organs for working mothers, etc.).

Some research revealed that workplace wellness programs held at worksite helped working mothers manage their time well. Research by Maraolo and Christiansen for example, showed that physical activity can be done properly if adequate places, facilities, time, 28 , 30 and support from supervisors as well as co‐workers are available. 32 , 33 , 35 Maraolo, mentioned activities during free time, maternity leave, 29 working hour flexibility as part of stress management. 33 , 34 Similarly, the study by Luthar using the ACG intervention 29 and by Apple using institution‐affiliated childcare 31 improved working mothers' time management which led to less stress. Christiansen, Zhou discovered that workplace wellness programs giving some extra free time to working mothers allow them to do other activities, such as eating healthy food and doing physical activities at the worksite and on workdays. 28 , 34 These programs should also be supported by the co‐workers and supervisors. However, these do not suit the shift workers because they have a different work schedule compared to the schedule of working mothers. Workplace wellness programs must be of great quality, comprehensive, easy to apply, engaging, fun, personalized, and designed well with some main programs. 6 These eight studies do not explicitly explain nominal financial benefits for employers and working mothers, but we clearly understand that the ability to maintain physical and mental health and balance tasks at work and home will reduce health costs and increase benefits for employers, working mothers, and their families. 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 This is what was conveyed from The RAND Employer Survey data showing that more than 60% stated that their program reduced healthcare costs, and around four‐fifths reported that it decreased absenteeism and increased productivity. The evaluation showed that the employer saved $111 per member in 2009 and $261 in 2010. 2

3.2. Working mothers wellness, work‐life balance, and job satisfaction

The respondents' occupations in the eight studies were physicians, workers in tribal agencies, schools, and enterprises, PhD clinicians, physician assistants, nurses, house staff physicians, other clinical providers, non‐clinical support, and non‐clinical faculty administrators, skilled and semi‐skilled workers in private and government workplace, professional/managerial, and head athletic trainers. 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 Five of the eight articles mentioned mental health studies, 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 because the most common issues faced by working mothers are stress, burnout, and depression. The amount of work they have both at work and home is often overwhelming, which reduces their physical capacity, time, endurance, energy, and psychological acceptance. 3 , 17 , 18 , 29 , 33

These eight studies were proof that the implementation of workplace wellness programs can improve the working mothers' health by allowing them to do a healthy diet and physical activity to lower the risks of chronic diseases, such as hypertension, cardiovascular problems, diabetes, and stroke. 6 Christiansen and Pedersen reported that there were positive impacts of physical activities and a healthy diet carried out at worksites and during workdays, such improved work‐life balance, work‐family balance, and healthy behaviors. 28 , 33 Luther provided evidence that the implementation of stress management, such as ACG program intervention can improve working mothers' mental health. 29 Sanguanklin and Mazerolle proved that workplace support can reduce stress and maintain work‐life balance. 32 , 35 This result is similar to that of the Apple study that implemented institution‐affiliated childcare. 31 Significant improvements were found between the intervention and mothers in the control group based on the results of central psychometric measures, with the transition mainly manifesting three months after the program had ended. Psychological indices were measured using Brief Symptom Inventory, 36 the Beck Depression Inventory, 37 The Self‐Compassion Scale, 38 Parenting Stress Index, 39 while the burnout was measured using The Maslach Burnout Inventory. 40

Other evidence showed a significant reduction of cortisol level from baseline. 29 Apple study reported a 6.3 lower median stress score for the worksite with implemented institution‐affiliated childcare compared to without institution‐affiliated childcare. 31 Maraolo reported more than 50% of working mothers who enjoyed the maternal leave had that impact on their work‐life balance. 30

4. DISCUSSION

There were not much data found on workplace wellness programs specifically designed for working mothers from 2012 and 2021. This suggests that many worksites may not have specifically designed or fully prepared workplace wellness programs yet for working mothers, although there are already existing ones that can be used by both working and non‐working mothers such as physical activity, weight loss, healthy diet, health promotion and stress management programs. 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 7 Three of the studies focused on health workers like physicians. All workplace wellness programs in the eight studies also showed positive impacts of the programs on reducing obesity, depression, burnout, and stress related to childcare, finances, work‐life balance, and other individual health. 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 The studies' results were in accordance with the result of Ryan et al., in which social support can promote healthy lifestyle choices, safety, health, wellbeing, 41 , 42 work and family satisfaction, mental health, cardiovascular health, 43 job satisfaction 44 and economic outcome. 45 A large U.S. warehouse retail company running a worksite wellness program gained significantly greater rates among the exposed employees. They reported that there were some positive health behaviors developed among the exposed employees compared with those who were not exposed. However, there were no significant differences after 18 months of clinical or biometric measures, healthcare utilization and spending, and employment outcomes. 45

All the workplace wellness programs implemented in the eight studies were similar to those recommended by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 41 and The National Workplace Wellness Programs (WWP) in Botswana, which mainly consisted of stress management and team building, psychological and spiritual care, health screening, health promotion, therapeutic recreation, occupational health and safety, 46 and multicomponent or multidimensional workplace wellness program. They were also similar to the programs presented by many U.S. employers, such as nutrition, stress reduction, issues typically addressed by registered dietitians at the therapy worksites, and physical activity. 45 Workplace wellness programs were described comprehensively in a study by Biswas et al., in which they consisted of flexible work hours, onsite shower facilities, worker assistance programs, fitness programs and/or physical activity, stress management and prevention, self‐care books/tools, nutrition education, education on work‐family balance, fitness breaks, on‐site fitness or walking trails, health risk assessment, smoking cessation classes/counseling, weight management classes/counseling, screenings for high blood pressure, alcohol or drug abuse support programs, cholesterol reduction education, screenings for cholesterol levels, screening for diabetes, chronic disease management programs, promotions/discounts to encourage healthy food choices, food labels with specific health information in the cafeteria, nurse advice line, screenings for any forms of cancer, signages to encourage people to use the stairs, and education on HIV/AIDS. 47

Although some workplace wellness programs suit all types of workers, some others require special treatments to be included for certain groups, such a group of working mothers. The treatments include working flexibility that can be used by the working mothers for breastfeeding, the availability of childcare access, and social support from supervisors and co‐workers to ease a large amount of burden they have. 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 A successful workplace wellness program is typically one that suits a particular worker population, workers' needs, the workplace, individual and organizational health targets. 3

There is no doubt that workplace health programs starting to be widely recognized by employers for the great benefits that they offer for workers, employers, and companies, such as improved physical health, mental health, life balance work safety, job satisfaction, work productivity and economic outcomes. 1 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 These benefits will certainly bring a positive impact on the workers' families as well.

4.1. Strengths and limitations

The study's strength is that it is based on a search that is entirely focused on the wellness of working women in the workplace and excludes breastfeeding initiatives.

As a limitation, we searched databases by the Boolean operator only using the keywords “occupational” OR “workplace” AND “wellness” AND “programs” AND “working” AND “mothers”. There may be some other words that can show more detailed results based on the set criteria.

5. CONCLUSION

The implementation of workplace wellness programs for working mothers showed positive effects on health problems and health costs directly or indirectly. The results of these 8 studies showed that workplace wellness programs for working mothers can lead to time efficiency and work‐life balance. They were held in or near the worksite, made available in the work environment, and implemented during workdays. These suit the conditions of working mothers well because they tend to have limited time and energy to balance household, family and work tasks.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTION

Conceptualization: Ernawati, Dany Hilmanto, Guswan Wiwaha, Sri Tiatri. Data curation: Ernawati, Melissa, Roswiyani, Fitriana Mawardi. Formal analysis: Ernawati, Melissa, Fitriana Mawardi. Methodology: Ernawati, Melissa, Fitriana Mawardi. Project administration: Ernawati. Visualization: Ernawati, Melissa. Writing‐original draft: Ernawati, Sri Tiatri. Writing‐review & editing: Ernawati, Dany Hilmanto, Guswan Wiwaha, Sri Tiatri.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

There is no conflict of interest among the authors associated with the materials used in this paper.

ETHICS APPROVAL AND CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE

Not applicable.

Supporting information

Appendix S1

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank Ambar Pratiwi, a librarian who greatly helped us find some full‐text articles and Fia Fia, who also helped us find some full‐text articles.

Ernawati E, Mawardi F, Roswiyani R, et al. Workplace wellness programs for working mothers: A systematic review . J Occup Health . 2022; 64 :e12379. doi: 10.1002/1348-9585.12379 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

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Articles on Working mothers

Displaying 1 - 20 of 33 articles.

3 lessons from MP Karina Gould’s parental leave that could help all Canadian families

Andrea Doucet , Brock University

Being the main breadwinner didn’t necessarily keep married mums in work during the pandemic

Leah Ruppanner , The University of Melbourne ; Caitlyn Collins , Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis ; Liana Christin Landivar , University of Maryland , and William Scarborough , University of North Texas

‘Barbie’ is, at its core, a movie about the messy contradictions of motherhood

Aviva Dove-Viebahn , Arizona State University

How childcare subsidies can reduce the gap between mothers’ and fathers’ career paths – for this generation and the next

Helene Turon , University of Bristol

Why married mothers end up doing more housework when they start out-earning their husbands

Joanna Syrda , University of Bath

The UK’s ‘ work-first ’ approach to benefits hurts mothers

Kate Andersen , University of York

Working from home made women academics feel worse than ever about juggling roles

Cyrill Walters , Stellenbosch University and Armand Bam , Stellenbosch University

Politicians criticising women for ‘outsourcing’ parenting need a reality check. Here it is

Leah Ruppanner , The University of Melbourne and Andrea Carson , La Trobe University

Women in work: how East Germany’s socialist past has influenced West German mothers

Anna Raute , Queen Mary University of London ; Barbara Boelmann , UCL , and Uta Schoenberg , UCL

Employers should help workers struggling with child care during  COVID-19

Claudine Mangen , Concordia University

Reforming ‘dad leave’ is a baby step towards greater gender equality

Owain Emslie , Grattan Institute ; Danielle Wood , Grattan Institute , and Kate Griffiths , Grattan Institute

Kids’ school schedules have never matched parents’ work obligations and the pandemic is making things worse

Taryn Morrissey , American University School of Public Affairs

Women’s careers in the time of coronavirus

Michelle Mielly , Grenoble École de Management (GEM) and Lena Kurban Rouhana , Grenoble École de Management (GEM)

Free preschool, longer school days and affordable day care help keep moms in the paid workforce

Leah Ruppanner , The University of Melbourne ; Liana C. Sayer , University of Maryland , and Stephanie Moller , University of North Carolina – Charlotte

Mothers explain how they navigated work and childcare, from the 1970s to today

Carla Pascoe Leahy , The University of Melbourne

It’s only a baby, right? Prime ministers, women and parenthood

Mark Smith , Grenoble École de Management (GEM) ; Marilyn Clarke , University of Adelaide , and Tracy Scurry , Newcastle University

US is way stingier with maternity leave and child care than the rest of the world

Joya Misra , UMass Amherst

How grandparent childcare is helping mums back into work

Shireen Kanji , University of Birmingham

Breastfeed for longer or share parental leave? This shouldn’t be a choice couples have to make

Ernestine Gheyoh Ndzi , University of Hertfordshire

Being a working mother is not bad for your children

Markus Klein , University of Strathclyde and Michael Kühhirt , University of Cologne

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Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, Podcast at MissPerceived, The University of Melbourne

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Working parents are in crisis: new data and the 5 best responses.

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Working parents are struggling.

The future of work doesn’t look good for working parents, and especially for working mothers. New data from multiple sources demonstrates working parents are concerned about their children, struggling with work-life and taking steps back in their careers. They are also especially stressed about global and national issues.

But among all the bad news, there are actions individuals, communities and employers can take to have constructive effects on working parents and tilt the balance back toward a positive work-life experience.

The Good News

It’s important to start with the fact that the news isn’t all bad—there are some glimmers of good news. In particular, according to a study by KinderCare , 69% of working parents feel they’ve been able to be more involved in their children’s lives because of more flexible work schedules. Hybrid work and greater autonomy about where, when and how people work has many benefits, and quality of life and time with family and children certainly top the list.

The Sobering News

But there is also a raft of negative impacts of the pandemic, the economy and the current conditions for working parents.

Parents Are Concerned About Their Kids

According to a study by the American Psychological Association (APA) , parents are concerned about their children based on the conditions created by the pandemic:

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• 73% worry about their children’s social life or development
• 71% worry about academic development
• 71% worry about emotional health and development
• 68% worry about cognitive development
• 65% worry about physical health and development

Parents Are Concerned About Childcare

The APA study found 72% of working parents were stressed based on disruptions and uncertainty about school and childcare schedules. In addition, the KinderCare research found 39% of working parents said finding quality chidcare was getting in the way of successfully navigating parenting.

Parents Are Concerned About Surrounding Conditions

And according to the research, parents are also more stressed than non-parents about other issues as well.

• 80% are concerned about money (compared to 58% for non-parents)
• 77% are concerned about the economy (compared to 59%)
• 72% are concerned about housing costs (compared to 39%)

Parents Are Enduring Rising Costs And Career Hits

Parents’ concerns about costs are well-founded as they are also experiencing increasing costs for child care. This is according to a report by LendingTree , which found parents have seen an average annual increase of 41% in childcare costs for center-based services. Families with children under five were hit the hardest in terms of cost increases. And parents in Hawaii have it worst, experiencing childcare which demands 29% of average wages.

The impact on working moms is especially great. According to a study by the to a Pew Research Center , working moms were significantly more likely to leave their jobs as a response to childcare challenges. In fact, about one third of working mothers have left their jobs since the start of the pandemic. This is according to Seramount .

Supporting families must be a priority.

The Best Responses

Given the number of parents who work (89.1% of families with children have one working parent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics), effective responses are critical. When parents are supported at work, it’s better for them, for families and for communities. But it’s also better for business, because people can bring their best effort when they’re supported in all aspects of their lives.

So what are the approaches to support working parents—on the part of communities and companies?

#1 - Provide Predictability

One of the best ways to support working moms and dads is to provide predictability in terms of schedules and work hours. A tough challenge for parents is when they can’t predict working hours, or when childcare or school hours are in flux. Predictability can be relatively easy to accomplish for businesses which provide work schedules and set clear expectations for when people need to be reporting for work. It can be a tougher challenge when daycares must close for health reasons or when bus schedules change based on a lack of available drivers.

But the takeaway message is clear: Create as much predictability as possible in terms of when, where and how people work and in terms of children’s schedules. When there are changes that must occur, provide as much notice as possible so parents have time to make backup plans.

#2 - Provide Choice and Control

Another classic way to reduce stress on anyone—working parents included—is to provide as much choice and control over schedules, benefits and work as possible. Multiple studies have demonstrated when people feel they can control their schedules, their routines and their life choices, they experience greater quality of life and less stress. They also report that they parent better. Again, this is good for individuals, families and communities, but it’s also advantageous for business—because people can be more effective at work when they feel more on top of the demands they face.

#3 - Provide Community

Another significant way to buffer stress, foster happiness and increase wellbeing is by creating the conditions for plenty of connection and community. People need the support of others—whether through a culture which fosters great teamwork or an employer which sets up effective mentorship programs. People benefit from affinity groups where they can share their challenges and experience listening ears, and they benefit from leaders who are empathetic and compassionate. Employers can take these kinds of steps, and employees can take the initiative to advocate for these kinds of programs as well.

#4 - Provide Childcare

Perhaps one of the most impactful ways employers can help with the parenting crisis is by providing childcare. In addition to the obvious benefits for parents, families and communities, employer-provided childcare can also positively impact attraction and retention. And the data proves this. The KinderCare study showed:

• 60% of working parents reported they would stay in their current jobs if they had subsidized child care
• 55% said they would take a pay cut to work for a company that provided quality childcare
• 81% of working parents said a company’s childcare benefits were a key criterion in the consideration of a job

In a related study by with Yahoo! Finance , 68% of working parents said they would be more likely to accept an offer from an employer that offers flexible scheduling for childcare needs, and 62% said they would be more likely to accept an offer when a monthly childcare stipend was on offer.

For companies considering childcare supports for parents, the business case is easy to make based on these data.

#5 - Ensure Equity

Overall, companies must—of course—create equity across all kinds of workers. Ironically, this means not providing greater benefits, flexibility or goodies to parents as compared to non-parents—a risk as companies seek to support parents.

In fact, a study by ResumeLab found non-parents sometimes feel discriminated against because they don’t get as much flexibility, vacation or control over their schedules. While companies seek to offer substantive and comprehensive support for parents, they are also wise to ensure they’re not overcorrecting and leaving out those who are not parents.

The pandemic has been hard on everyone—for sure, and communities will feel the effects for many years to come. But it has had disproportionately greater negative impacts on working parents and women.

As organizations consider their roles in lives, families and communities they are wise to adopt comprehensive support measures. Likewise, employees are empowered to initiate, advocate and create the conditions for themselves and colleagues to support the work-family experience.

Work is a fundamental way people contribute their talents and skills to the community and feel a sense of value and meaning. Likewise, parenting is one of the most precious and important roles people can fulfill—for themselves, their families and communities. Contributive justice demands people of every ilk have the supports they need to contribute fully—and support for working parents is one aspect of this requirement.

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Supporting Mothers' Mental Health

Carrie mullins on literature about maternal mental health.

Posted June 20, 2024 | Reviewed by Kaja Perina

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• 72% of women feel invisible in the mothering role.
• 42% of working mothers surveyed were diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression.
• Society’s set of expectations for mothers impacts maternal mental health.

Carrie Mullins, author of The Book of Mothers: How Literature Can Help Us Reinvent Modern Motherhood , was tired of following an unexamined set of expectations for what motherhood looks like, so she wrote a book in hopes that it would offer insight into the social constructs around what it means to be a mother.

“We don’t talk enough about how our understanding of motherhood—i.e. why we think mothers should look, act, parent, and love in a certain way—is simply a set of cultural expectations that’s been built up over time, and rarely by women themselves,” she explained. “I hope the book encourages readers to treat mothers as equally important, interesting, and unique as any other character. When we flatten fictional mother figures to cliches, it becomes easier to treat real women the same way.”

Undoubtedly, society’s set of expectations for mothers impacts maternal mental health. However, limited peer-reviewed research has been done on mothers’ mental health outside of the perinatal period. One survey conducted through the community app Peanut revealed that 72% of women feel invisible in the mothering role. 93% reported feeling unappreciated, unacknowledged or unseen, and 93% said that, since having a child, they feel their identity is now limited to “mother” (Peanut, 2023).

With mothers bearing the brunt of the “invisible family load,” in addition to their professional responsibilities outside the home, it's no wonder that moms often feel stressed and burnt out. From managing the home, to remembering to send grandma a birthday card, to holding space for her child’s big feelings about losing the game, mothers tend to be the one holding it all together at home, regardless of their outside commitments (Wayne, J.H., Mills, M.J., Wang, YR. et al., 2023). Data collected by CVS Health in 2022 found that 42% of working mothers surveyed were diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression , compared to 25% of their coworkers without kids. Working moms were also more likely to report that their mental health had worsened in the last year.

The societal pressures don't end there. Legislation impacting mothers can lead to significant mental health implications, particularly for historically marginalized populations who are already at risk (Ogbu-Nwobodo, L., et al, 2022). I spoke to Mullins, who urged, “We need to legislate for mothers, and we need to do it now! It’s unacceptable that only financially well-off mothers in this country are assured quality health and childcare. If, as so many politicians claim, the family is the heart of America, then we need to put the policies in place that prove it. Our bottom line cannot be simply that these families exist, or have been forced to exist, but that they have a chance to thrive."

Mullins explores these themes and more in her refreshing take on motherhood through the lens of literature. Here are her thoughts on motherhood and mental health:

Q: What mental health themes emerged as you were doing research for your book? What mental health issues plague modern mothers most, from your perspective, and in what ways does this differ (or reflect) the picture of motherhood found in classic literature?

A: I think many mothers today suffer from both feelings of overwhelm and, not unrelatedly, anxiety. Anxiety is nothing new; Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice is understandably worried about securing husbands who can provide for her daughters. What’s changed is how we think about a mother’s role. Mrs. Bennet basically had one job, whereas today’s mothers are told they are in charge of their children’s health, safety and emotional, social, and financial well-being. If their child “fails” in any of these metrics, it’s somehow a reflection of their ability as a parent.

Q: In Chapter 3 you examine Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and explore Marmee's anger , reflecting on how modern moms are often expected to be endlessly gentle and joyful. Do you feel moms today are expected to repress their emotions? What effect do you suppose this has on maternal mental health? What does this teach the next generation about emotions?

A: Unfortunately, I think it’s all women and not just mothers who are expected to repress their emotions. As a society, we’re uncomfortable with female anger. But the situation has reached a crisis point with many mothers of my generation because of the rise of gentle parenting , which is essentially the idea that you should remain emotionally neutral with your kids at all times—even if your one child purposefully rips up your other child’s art project and then throws paint at the wall. The idea that the best way to parent is to never show anger not only places an impossible burden on parents, it leaves me wondering what happens to our kids when they inevitably feel or see anger themselves. How will they be able to process and normalize it? And how, if we’re always hiding ourselves, will our children get to know us as people? I think the key to a lasting relationship between kids and their parents is everyone knowing—and loving—each other as individuals.

Q: What systemic issues negatively impacting mothers today stand out to you most? What connection do you see between the ways society has shifted over time in relation to motherhood, and maternal mental health?

A: What surprised me most in researching this book was actually the ways in which society has not shifted in relation to motherhood. In America, the twin ideas that a) the individual family unit is responsible for itself and b) the best person to raise a child is its mother, are deeply engrained in our culture and continue to guide our policies. This is the case even though we’ve fallen short of our peer countries in almost all metrics for maternal well-being. We need universal paid parental leave, better maternal health services, and subsidized childcare. All these initiatives have been shown to increase positive outcomes for children, and they would certainly benefit maternal mental health.

The mental health crisis of working moms. (n.d.). Www.cvshealth.com. https://www.cvshealth.com/news/mental-health/the-mental-health-crisis-of-working-moms.html

Ogbu-Nwobodo, L., Shim, R. S., Vinson, S. Y., Fitelson, E. M., Biggs, M. A., McLemore, M. R., Thomas, M., Godzich, M., & Mangurian, C. (2022). Mental Health Implications of Abortion Restrictions for Historically Marginalized Populations. New England Journal of Medicine, 387(17), 1613–1617. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmms2211124

Peanut. (2023, October). The State of Invisibility [Review of The State of Invisibility]. https://storage.googleapis.com/peanut-assets/reports/US%20-%20The%20Sta…

Wayne, J.H., Mills, M.J., Wang, YR. et al. Who’s Remembering to Buy the Eggs? The Meaning, Measurement, and Implications of Invisible Family Load. J Bus Psychol 38, 1159–1184 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-023-09887-7

Heather Rose Artushin, LISW-CP, is a child and family therapist passionate about the power of reading.

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The Chinese government is encouraging women to have bigger families. These three working mothers have another idea.

We asked them to document their daily lives and to talk about why they are opting out of China’s pro-birth agenda.

Why These Chinese Working Mothers Don’t Want More Babies

By Isabelle Qian

One leads a team at a financial firm and earns more than her husband. Another is pursuing her dream of becoming a civil servant. A third is a budding influencer who aspires to be the family breadwinner.

Each woman is raising one young child and doesn’t want another — no matter what their husbands say, or what incentives the Chinese government, worried about an aging population, is dangling.

Gone are the days of China’s one-child policy . At a recent political forum, President Xi Jinping urged women to take on greater familial responsibilities and “play their unique role in carrying forward the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation.”

These women see a different role for themselves. This generation was born into small families, with many girls growing up as only children — and getting opportunities that used to be given only to boys. Their own mothers, who didn’t have multiple children to care for, typically worked outside the home and set examples for their daughters to do the same.

“I must have my own career.”

Joyce Zhao, 29, Project manager

Joyce Zhao had worked for three years as a project manager at a small tech company in Beijing and was expecting a promotion. But when she became pregnant with her son, Ming, her prospects dimmed.

Her boss, a woman who had been advocating for her to be given a leadership role, left the team while Ms. Zhao was on a five-month maternity leave. When she returned to work, her new boss told her that she was behind and needed to work harder.

“ I was drowning in self-doubt, wondering whether having a child at this point in time was the wrong thing to do,” Ms. Zhao said.

But, she said, she never once thought about quitting her job and staying at home.

“I only have myself to rely on,” Ms. Zhao. “I must have my own career and not give it up for anything.”

A few months after Ming’s first birthday, Ms. Zhao, who is 29, decided to leave her company, and landed a job at one of the biggest tech companies in China.

Her husband would like a second child, but Ms. Zhao is not interested. Her days are already grueling enough. Her four-hour commute to work and long hours mean she gets home way past Ming’s bedtime. She rises at 6:30 a.m. to have one hour to herself to read and exercise, and one hour to play and have breakfast with her son.

After college, Ms. Zhao set aside her dream of becoming a civil servant to pursue a higher-paying job. Now, having checked off marriage and childbearing, she plans to study for the notoriously difficult civil servant exam.

“I divide my time, energy and money into different parts, saving the biggest part for myself, then the rest go to my parents, husband and son,” Ms. Zhao said. “I can’t let them take all of me.”

“I see no benefits to having two children.”

Guo Chunlei, 32, Influencer

Before Guo Chunlei got married, she worked at a bank in the eastern city of Hangzhou, making about $2,000 a month, decent by Chinese standards. Her parents bought her a small apartment and a car, so she spent most of her paycheck on beauty, fashion and traveling.

When she decided to have a baby in 2022, her husband and in-laws, who ran a booming family business in construction, encouraged her to switch to a less demanding job to have more time for the child. Ms. Guo agreed and joined a publicly traded company as an accountant. But the work was repetitive and unfulfilling, and she was earning only about a third of what she used to make.

The steep pay cut became a bigger and bigger problem. As her daughter, Tianyi, grew up, expenses began soaring. Early education classes alone ate up a third of her salary.

Seeking extra money, and a sense of purpose, Ms. Guo started a mom-influencer account on the lifestyle app Xiaohongshu last year. A post she composed about planning a traditional Chinese birthday party for her daughter got tens of thousands of views and opened the door to brand collaborations.

She now spends weekday evenings writing captions, editing photos and doing product research. Photo shoots with Tianyi in nearby parks have become a weekend family activity.

Ms. Guo’s account has amassed more than 10,000 followers and brings in more money from product sponsorships than her day job. She’s considering becoming an influencer full time, and would like to take over as her family’s main provider.

Ms. Guo recalls her own parents sacrificing to provide for her and her younger brother. It made her determined to follow a different path.

“I see no benefits to having two children, for either myself or for Tianyi,” she said.

“ I want to make something of myself.”

Tang Pingjuan, 36, Financial manager

Like many working women in China today, Tang Pingjuan, 36, has higher expectations than did many of the women who came before her.

Growing up under the old one-child policy, she got the undivided attention of her father, a train driver, and her mother, a teacher, she recalls. And like many girls in her generation, she was given opportunities that had once been reserved for boys.

When it came time to attend college, Ms. Tang went hundreds of miles away from home to pursue a degree in mathematics, a field dominated by men. (Nearly a third of Chinese women have college degrees now, up from fewer than 1 percent in 1990.)

After graduating, Ms. Tang landed a job in finance and then, at age 25, took a year off and used her savings to travel to more than a dozen countries. Now 36, she leads a team at a private financial company in Guangzhou, the bustling metropolis where she lives with her husband and 4-year-old daughter, Ning.

Ms. Tang earns more than her husband and makes investment decisions for the family.

Six months after Ning was born, Ms. Tang returned to her office, leaving the baby in the care of a grandmother. On weekends, the family likes splurging on “staycations” at luxury hotels.

Lately, she has been considering a promising job opportunity in the nearby city of Shenzhen, which could mean being separated from her family. Her husband and in-laws oppose the move, but Ms. Tang doesn’t want to be held back. She has not ruled out a second child altogether, she said, but it is not something she is considering now.

“I feel selfish for putting myself before my family, but life is long and I want to make something of myself,” she said.

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Mothers are back at work. Here’s why we shouldn’t be too quick to celebrate

America celebrated as mothers returned to the workforce in the aftermath of the pandemic. But just because mothers are back in the workforce at pre-pandemic numbers, we shouldn’t be so quick to call it a win. Why? Because, in our current economy, having a job doesn’t protect mothers or their children from precarity, and it doesn’t guarantee that they’ll ever get ahead.

Take a mom I’ll call Akari, who is biracial Japanese and white. Before the pandemic, she was a stay-at-home mom of two young kids. She left the workforce when her oldest was born, because, at the time, she didn’t have access to paid family leave, and she and her fiancé together earned too much to qualify for childcare subsidies but not enough to pay market rates for infant care. Money was tight since they had to get by on the $30,000 her fiancé brought home from his small business. But things were stable until the summer of 2020 when Akari’s fiancé died suddenly. Without life insurance or much in savings, Akari couldn’t afford to keep paying rent. So, still reeling from grief, she moved herself and the kids into a shelter, got on a waitlist for subsidized housing, and signed up for food stamps and welfare.

Welfare rules required that Akari find a paid job as soon as possible, even though her welfare benefits would be docked for every dollar that she earned. Of course, this all happened at the height of pandemic layoffs. And so, the best job Akari could find was a very part-time job in retail that paid less than $10 an hour. Given how little she was making, Akari added a second weekday part-time job in 2021, and, a few months after that, a third weekend job at a manufacturing facility. Akari did receive some support through pandemic relief programs, but that money mostly went to pay off some of the more than $20,000 in debts that she owed, including on legal fees related to her fiancé’s death, and many of those programs—like the expanded child tax credit —were cut off almost as soon as they began.

With three jobs, Akari now barely gets to see her kids. And she’s actually worse off financially than she was on welfare because she now makes just a bit too much to qualify for programs like food stamps and subsidized housing and childcare. Yet, Akari doesn’t feel she has the option to quit any of her jobs, because of lifetime caps on benefits and because welfare rules prevent her from saving money for retirement or a rainy day.  

Thus, while Akari was one of those women whose return to the workforce was celebrated as evidence of a post-COVID return to normal, her story makes clear that some of those women returned not because of how we supported them in doing so but because of how we forced their hands.

That kind of coercion is why women hold roughly 70% of the lowest-wage jobs in the U.S. economy, and why, like Akari, those women are disproportionately moms of young kids. In the absence of a sturdy social safety net, moms like Akari end up filling low-wage, no-benefit, dead-end jobs in fields like retail, food service, home health, house cleaning, and childcare.

The message to these mothers is often some version of “You should have…” Should have gone to college. Should have majored in engineering. Should have gotten married and waited to start having kids. And yet, the evidence tells us that good choices won’t grant women a seat at the table or even guarantee a roof over their heads.

Why? Because you can’t lean in if you’re being leaned on. And, because, due to the giant holes we’ve left in our social safety net, women are still bearing the brunt of the weight. Like Akari, they’re the default parents —the ones forced to fill in gaps in our childcare system. They’re also the default caregivers for sick and elderly family members . And they’re often the ones who pick up the slack at work for colleagues who need support, as well.

All that responsibility—and the risk that comes with it—makes it hard for women, especially mothers, to find a foothold on the corporate ladder , let alone demand high salaries or compete with men for a spot at the top .  

And so, I for one will be holding off on celebrating American mothers’ return to the workforce until we invest in a social safety net that offers universal paid family leave and sick leave, universal childcare and healthcare, decent welfare benefits without punitive work requirements, subsidies for families with dependents, and a robust minimum wage. That kind of safety net would eliminate the kind of coercion that drove mothers back to the workforce in the wake of COVID-19 all while making it easier for mothers to choose to rejoin the workforce—and likely leading more of them to do so overall.

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The Stigma That Pregnant Moms Face in the Workplace

Here’s one mom's story about losing her job on maternity leave, the stigma she faced, and how it affected her ability to afford childcare.

Stephanie Taylor

Published Jun 25, 2024

Moms returning to the workforce face many hurdles. One of the greatest is the burden of childcare. Without affordable childcare and support from employers, it can be impossible for new moms to return to work. 

Mercy Badmos knows firsthand the reality of workplace bias and the burden of childcare costs. After giving birth, she couldn’t afford childcare because it cost more than her salary. Shortly into her maternity leave, her employer let her go . She had to get on public assistance and lived on less than $300 a month. 

Now, as the CEO and founding director of the Girls Empowerment Movement , Badmos recalls a time when the financial strain and lack of affordable childcare options were overwhelming. The burden of childcare significantly impacted her ability to return to the workforce. 

“The high costs and long waitlists made it difficult to secure a spot in a reputable daycare,” Badmos told 21Ninety. “Without affordable and reliable childcare, returning to work was impossible.”

Flexibility for Moms Is Key

Flexibility is often a missing link in the support for moms returning to the workforce after pregnancy. In order to better support moms, employers need to offer more flexible work arrangements, including remote work and flexible hours. As soon as her former employer found out she was pregnant, Badmos shared that the energy shifted. 

“When I needed time off, they were immediately upset,” she said. “As I neared childbirth, my employer resisted my request to work from home.”

In the modern age, where many jobs can be done remotely, working moms are still expected to be physically present. This is despite the increased demands of caring for a child. 

Badmos also is a big advocate for on-site childcare.

“When I suggest it, people often think it’s unrealistic, but it’s a practical solution that would make a huge difference,” she said. “Being able to bring your child to work can ease the transition back to work and reduce the anxiety about childcare.”

Employers Should Support Moms

Badmos gave birth in April 2020. Once she had her baby, Badmos shared that her former employer seemed to dislike that she was on leave. 

Toward the end of her time off, Badmos felt nervous about returning to work. She had to figure out how to split up the 12 weeks of her leave over her child’s first year. She also had to figured out how to live on a reduced salary. If she needed more than 12 weeks off, her employer would reduce her wages – this time to less than $200 per week.

When her employer fired her during her leave, Badmos was surprised. Her former employer said they let her go due to the COVID-19 pandemic and that her last day would be in November 2020. 

“I don’t believe I was truly let go because of the pandemic,” she said. “They hired someone for my position a few months later.”

This experience reinforced Badmos’ belief that childcare needs to be more accessible for all new moms. Employers can better support moms by providing on-site childcare and affordable childcare options. They should also create policies that allow parents more time to care for their children and themselves.

“After childbirth, I couldn’t perform at the same level, and my job didn’t support me as a new mom,” she said. “If they had worked with me, then I believe I could have regained my footing within a year.”

Dispelling Misconceptions

Pregnant women and new mothers are often passed over for promotions and excluded from important projects. They are also generally treated as less valuable employees, Badmos added. These misconceptions not only undermine moms’ professional abilities but also create an unsupportive and stressful work environment.

“The stigma is that pregnant women and new mothers can’t be as productive,” Badmos said. “There’s an assumption that we’re less committed to our jobs and more likely to take time off or leave the workforce entirely.” 

To employers, Badmos encouraged to address stigma and biases toward expecting and new moms head on. Employers should educate their teams about the value of diversity and inclusion. Make it clear that pregnant women and new mothers are an integral part of the workforce. 

“By providing these supports, you not only help your employees but also benefit from their loyalty, productivity, and diverse perspectives,” she said.

• Does motherhood hurt women’s pay?

Two new studies suggest not—at least in the long run, and in Scandinavia

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R eturning from his paternity leave last week, your columnist was keen to get writing. After all, numerous studies say parents’ careers can suffer after they have children. Best to immediately dispel any notion that his might do so. But then he remembered that he is a man, and went to get a coffee. For the child penalty, as the career hit is known by economists, is commonly believed to affect mothers alone.

In fact, it might be that women returning to work after childbirth can afford to relax, too. It is true that their immediate earnings are likely to fall, and perhaps infuriating that those of new fathers are not. Yet two new studies suggest that, in the long run, compared with women who do not have children, the motherhood penalty may vanish—or even turn into a premium.

The disparity between men and women who have children is well known. In a widely cited paper from 2019, Henrik Kleven of Princeton University, with co-authors, charted the careers of Danish parents after their first child was born. Mothers’ pay and working hours plunged, by a third and a fifth, respectively, in the first year after childbirth. Fathers’ careers continued roughly as before.

The same study found that mothers’ careers do not recover. After ten years, the hit to Danish mothers’ incomes was still 20 percentage points bigger than that to fathers’, with larger gaps between those with more children. This was down to women with children either leaving the labour market, working fewer hours or earning a lower hourly wage. The paper’s authors have repeated the exercise for 134 countries, with strikingly similar results.

But the difficulty in divining the effect of children is that the stork does not drop babies randomly. To get round this, the Danish paper was based on an “event study”. This supposes mothers’ incomes develop along a smooth trend until they give birth, which causes the trend to break. After the break, each mother’s pay is compared with the trend (continued by other women in the sample who give birth later), and the drop is assumed to be the effect of the child. The same calculation is then carried out for fathers.

Such techniques are useful for pinpointing short-term effects, but work less well when trying to gauge what happens over the long run. Many things change over time for women with children and without, meaning that comparing mothers’ pay to a trend formed by women who have not yet given birth may distort the picture. Take a recent study by Simon Bensnes of Norway’s statistical agency, and co-authors, which shows that women tend to wait to have children until their earnings have started to flatten. In other words, part of the pay gap that opens up in event studies may simply be mama economica in action.

And so other researchers—including Mr Bensnes and colleagues—approximate randomisation differently, by looking at women undergoing in-vitro fertilisation ( IVF ). This has the advantage that all potential parents in the sample clearly wish to have a child, but those who succeed are decided by nature and chance. Several such studies have now considered parents from Nordic countries, where researchers can access sensitive data on IVF treatments and match them to administrative records.

The Norwegian study followed women undergoing IVF treatment for roughly a decade, finding that the annual incomes of those who gave birth fell by an average of 22% in the short term, compared with those who remained childless. In the long run, however, this penalty narrowed to just 3%. Fathers’ incomes did not drop; instead, they rose by around 10% over the long run.

A new Danish study considers a longer timeframe. Petter Lundborg of Lund University, along with co-authors, looked at up to 25 years’ worth of data from the point of each woman’s first IVF treatment. They found a similar pattern: a sharp short-term drop in mothers’ earnings, but no long-run earnings penalty compared with women who did not have children. In fact, their data reveal a small “motherhood premium” after about 15 years, which over a lifetime more than compensates for the initial drop.

Should such studies be trusted? The researchers are careful to point to the downsides of their own methodologies. As much as the success of IVF treatment sounds random, it may not be. In the Norwegian study, for example, the authors show that education levels are slightly higher for successfully treated mothers.

Meanwhile, unsuccessful IVF treatment is not harmless. Four researchers from Stanford University recently published a working paper that uses Swedish data. They, too, found no long-term motherhood penalty for women whose treatment succeeded. For those whose treatment did not, the results were disquieting: the women were almost 50% more likely to later take medicine for their mental health, and the couples had a higher chance of divorcing. Both motherhood and fatherhood premiums may thus be related to the suffering of those who remain childless.

Parents from outside Scandinavia may reasonably wonder whether all these results extend to them. Danish and Norwegian mothers’ incomes may recover particularly well because they have significantly better access to child care than those in many other countries. Nordic norms around gender equality could encourage fathers to play a bigger role in raising children, giving women more room to re-start their career.

As your columnist pondered such questions, he turned to Claudia Goldin, who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2023, for wisdom. She argues that the “parenthood gap” has three parts: the motherhood penalty, the fatherhood premium, and the cost of being female. The new studies suggest that the motherhood penalty narrows over the course of a career; the fatherhood premium is something of a mystery. But the cost of being female exists regardless of motherhood, and varies from place to place. Researchers have plenty of work ahead to quantify and explain these. ■

For more expert analysis of the biggest stories in economics, finance and markets, sign up to  Money Talks , our weekly subscriber-only newsletter.

Explore more

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “The fading motherhood penalty”

Finance & economics June 15th 2024

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From the June 15th 2024 edition

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Research: How Remote Work Impacts Women at Different Stages of Their Careers

• Natalia Emanuel,
• Emma Harrington,
• Amanda Pallais

Data on software engineers at a Fortune 500 company revealed that junior and senior women saw contrasting costs and benefits.

While much has been said about the potential benefits of remote work for women, recent research examines how working from home affects the professional development of female software engineers at a Fortune 500 company, revealing that its impact varies by career stage. Junior women engineers benefit significantly from in-person mentorship, receiving 40% more feedback when sitting near colleagues, while senior women face reduced productivity due to increased mentoring duties. Male engineers also benefit from proximity, but less so. The authors suggest that recognizing and rewarding mentorship efforts could mitigate these disparities, ensuring junior women receive adequate support remotely and senior women are properly compensated for their mentoring contributions.

Since the pandemic began, work from home (WFH) has at times been pitched as a means of supporting women in the workplace. This argument often focuses on WFH’s potential to help women juggle the demands of their jobs with the demands of their families. However, WFH’s impact on women’s professional development may vary over their careers. In our research, we explored how WFH impacts young women as they try to get a foothold in their careers and how it affects the often-invisible mentorship work done by more senior women.

• NE Natalia Emanuel serves as a research economist at the New York Fed.
• EH Emma Harrington is a professor at the University of Virginia.
• AP Amanda Pallais is a professor at Harvard University.

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Despite challenges at home and work, most working moms and dads say being employed is what’s best for them

Balancing work and family responsibilities brings many challenges for working mothers and fathers with children younger than 18. Roughly half say being a working parent makes it harder for them to be a good parent, and about as many say that at times they feel they can’t give 100% at work. Despite these challenges, many working parents – including about eight-in-ten full-time working mothers – say their current employment situation is what’s best for them at this point in their life, according to a new Pew Research Center survey .

A majority (55%) of U.S. mothers with children younger than 18 at home are employed full time, up from 34% a half-century ago, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau Current Population Survey data. The rise in full-time employment has fueled the overall rise in employment among moms: Now, 72% of moms are employed, either full time or part time, compared with about half in 1968. Among fathers with kids in the home, the vast majority (89%) are employed full time.

About half of employed parents with children younger than 18 – including similar shares of mothers (53%) and fathers (51%) – say being a working parent makes it harder for them to be a good parent. But employed moms (50%) are more likely than employed dads (39%) to say being a working parent makes it harder for them to advance in their job or career.

Among working mothers, those who are employed part time (57%) are more likely than those who work full time (47%) to say being a working parent makes it harder for them to advance in their job or career. At the same time, full-time working moms are more likely to say being a working parent makes it harder for them to be a good parent (57% vs. 44% of part-time working moms). There aren’t enough part-time working fathers with children younger than 18 in the household in the sample to analyze separately.

When asked about some specific challenges they may have faced at work because they were balancing work and parenting responsibilities, about half of working mothers say they’ve needed to reduce their work hours (54%) or that they’ve felt like they couldn’t give 100% at work (51%). Smaller but still substantial shares of working fathers say the same: About four-in-ten say they’ve needed to reduce their work hours (44%) or that they couldn’t give 100% (43%).

About one-in-five working parents, including 23% of working moms and 15% of working dads, say they have turned down a promotion because they were balancing work and parenting responsibilities.

Roughly a quarter of working parents (23%) say they have been treated as if they weren’t committed to their work because they have children, while 17% say they have been passed over for an important assignment. In addition, 16% say they have been passed over for a promotion for this reason. Mothers are more likely than fathers to say they’ve had each of these experiences.

Still, most parents with children younger than 18 say it would be best for them personally to be employed, either full time or part time, at this point in their life. Among fathers, 82% say it would be best for them to be working full time; 11% say it would be best to be working part time and just 7% say it would be best to not be working for pay at all. Views are more varied among mothers: 51% say it would be best for them to be working full time, 30% say part-time work would be best and 19% say the optimal arrangement for them would be not to work for pay at all right now. Mothers across income groups express similar views of what would be best for them at this point in their life.

Among full-time working mothers, 84% say their current employment situation is what’s best for them at the moment, while 14% say working part time would be best and just 2% say not working for pay at all would be best.

About half of part-time working moms (54%) say working part time is best for them at this point in their life, but a sizable share (33%) say working full time would be best and 14% say not working for pay at all would be best. And among stay-at-home moms, 39% say not working for pay at all is what’s best for them, but a similar share (35%) say it would be best for them to be working part time; a quarter of mothers who are not employed say it would be best for them to be working full time.

Among all U.S. adults, a third say working full time is the ideal situation for women with young children

When asked more generally about the ideal situation for men and women with young children – rather than about what works best for them personally – about three-quarters of U.S. adults (76%) say working full time is ideal for fathers, while just 33% think this is the ideal situation for mothers. About four-in-ten (42%) say working part time is ideal for women with young children, while 21% say not working for pay at all is ideal for this group.

About a third of women (33%) and men (32%) say working full time is ideal for mothers; 44% of women say working part time is ideal (vs. 40% of men), while 19% (vs. 23% of men) say not working for pay at all is ideal.

The view that working full time is ideal for women with young children is more common among black adults: 57% say this, compared with 38% of Hispanic and 27% of white adults. Just 8% of black adults say not working for pay at all is the ideal situation for mothers; 25% of whites and 15% of Hispanics say the same.

Across age groups, similar shares of those ages 18 to 29 (35%), 30 to 49 (37%) and 50 to 64 (35%) say working full time is the ideal situation for women with young children; 21% of those ages 65 and older agree. Three-in-ten in the oldest group say not working for pay at all is ideal for mothers, compared with about two-in-ten of those ages 30 to 49 (20%) and 50 to 64 (21%) and 14% of those younger than 30.

Among full-time working mothers, 45% say working full time is ideal for women with young children, while a similar share (41%) say working part time is ideal and 11% say the ideal is for women with young children to not work for pay at all. Part-time working moms are more likely to say working part time is ideal for women with young children (53%) than to say working full time (27%) or not at all (16%) are ideal. Among stay-at-home moms, a plurality (42%) say working part time is ideal for women with young children, while similar shares say working full time (27%) or not working for pay at all (28%) is ideal.

Note: See full topline results and methodology . 

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Juliana Menasce Horowitz is an associate director of research at Pew Research Center .

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Meet Josefa Muñoz, Ph.D. Student

June 21, 2024

From volunteer to NOAA Fisheries-funded graduate student at the University of Hawaiʻi, learn more about Josefa Muñoz’s sea turtle journey.

Where is your cultural or home connection? 

My cultural and home connection is rooted in Guam. My CHamoru upbringing taught me  inafa’maolek , meaning “to make good” in CHamoru.  Inafa’maolek is the restoration of harmony and it is the foundation of CHamoru culture. An  inafa’maolek tenet is showing respect to not only elders, family, and community, but also to the land we live on. Customs like this highlight our belief that all of nature should be respected. This connection to nature instilled in me a sense of stewardship of Guam’s land and sea and a drive to restore its harmony. Altogether, this influenced my decision to pursue the marine biology field and contribute to the conservation of protected species. Additionally, my cultural connection gives me an extra layer of motivation to devote my marine biology Ph.D., and my lifelong career, towards Pacific Islands sea turtle research and protection.

What is your science and education journey so far? 

As a University of Guam undergraduate, I wanted to serve my island community and subsequently volunteered as a Haggan (“turtle” in CHamoru) Watch Program research intern. This program fed my strong interest in marine research and ignited my passion for sea turtle conservation. It led to my selection for the Native American and Pacific Islander Research Experience where I characterized rainforest bird vocalizations in Costa Rica. Later, I was selected for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship in California where I studied deep-sea bacteria. My participation in these internships broadened my perspective and approach to scientific research. They provided a strong research background in experimental design, data analysis, writing skills, and scientific communication that I readily apply as a graduate student. Most importantly, they gave me the confidence to believe that as a female Pacific Islander, I can pursue an advanced degree, a STEM career, and represent my CHamoru people—especially CHamoru women—in a broader scientific community.

After graduating from UOG, I worked as a sea turtle biologist where I resumed nesting beach monitoring. My fascination with Guam’s sea turtles grew exponentially, and I was certain I wanted to pursue a graduate degree and fill knowledge gaps. Concurrently, I met my mentors and was awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program funding, which made my graduate education possible. I became a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa marine biology Ph.D. student and have been closely collaborating with the NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center  Marine Turtle Biology and Assessment Program for my research. Currently, I am in the Center’s Quantitative Ecology and Socioeconomics Training Program.

What is your graduate research about? 

Since Mariana Islands sea turtles are understudied, I was determined to devote my dissertation towards establishing baseline information of Guam’s endangered nesting green turtles. I am studying three main areas.

Mating Strategies & Breeding Sex Ratio

Warmer nest temperatures produce more female hatchlings making climate change a concern for populations worldwide. With suspected  feminization of Guam’s green turtles , where more than 90 percent may be female, I aim to determine if they have one or many mates, which can be a buffer for the potentially female-skewed bias. I also aim to determine the breeding sex ratio  by counting the number of turtle moms and dads that successfully contribute to Guam’s green turtle population.

Turtle Moms On the Move

Understanding the inter-nesting movement of Guam’s nesting green turtles is crucial for local conservation. Using satellite tracking, which can give exact locations of animals using the GPS, I aim to find the ranges of the inter-nesting movements by Guam’s turtle moms. This will help define important in-water habitat that may need protection during the nesting season.

You Are  Where You Eat

I use satellite tracking and stable isotope analysis to study animal migrations. This analysis uses the chemical makeup of an animal’s skin tissue to indicate what it eats and the environment it lives in. Therefore, stable isotopes can reveal an animal’s previous location (e.g., feeding area) when it is encountered on the nesting beach in Guam. This chemical analysis paired with tracking data is an integrative approach to potentially determine Guam’s sea turtle feeding areas, and the latter can be used to precisely determine migration routes.

What sea turtle work has been especially interesting or inspiring to you? 

Sea turtle work that is novel to an understudied population and involves strong collaboration between diverse teams has always been inspiring to me. I modeled my fieldwork after this framework by introducing new research on Guam’s nesting turtles and also brought together various agencies. I’m most proud of involving the community and students in my research. I created the Sea Turtle Research Internship, where I trained 10 students per field season in conducting sea turtle work. In this way, the students gained valuable hands-on field experience in their backyard working with an endangered species. I offered this opportunity to this particular group because I was once in their position as an undergraduate. These students were so inspiring to work alongside. I hope that I can inspire them to conduct innovative work on Guam’s protected species and bring together the community while doing so. 

What does a typical day look like for you? 

My role involves carrying out sea turtle research projects from start to finish. It is very satisfying to lead and execute the full scientific research process from the experimental design, preparation, and logistics; to data collection in the field; analyzing data and samples in the laboratory; and publishing those results. Lastly, I love presenting my research at scientific conferences and providing outreach to students and the public to equip them with knowledge about sea turtles.

What advice do you have for future students starting their career in marine conservation?  

Sharpen Soft Skills as Much as Hard Skills

Having technical knowledge is important in marine conservation; soft skills are overlooked—but needed—for this field. Key soft skills include communicating well, adaptability, and being dependable and respectful, all of which are important for teamwork. Additional important soft skills include persevering, demonstrating empathy towards colleagues and the community, prioritizing diversity and inclusion, and having cultural awareness. Having these soft skills opened many doors for me and I suggest focusing on building and utilizing them as much as the hard skills. 

Build and Maintain Bridges with Professionals and Community  

Networking was always intimidating, but I recommend that future students network. I met many professionals on my science journey and I’m grateful I learned from each person. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my network. Additionally, I strongly advise building a network with the people where you’re conducting your science. It is important to establish and maintain relationships and trust with this community. Involving my home community in my research is so rewarding and I enjoy empowering them with the knowledge of Guam’s sea turtles through my research and sharing sea turtle experiences with them.

Use Self-Confidence to Overcome Imposter Syndrome  

Being raised in CHamoru culture taught me to maintain humility. I appreciate the CHamoru culture for favoring this beautiful value. However, it left me in a bind as a graduate student. For example, humility will come in the form of speaking only when spoken to, being shy when sharing input, putting others first, and the fear of highlighting one’s accomplishments. This, combined with imposter syndrome, heightened my self-doubt. I still struggle with this, but many mentors taught me that humility and confidence are not mutually exclusive. So I’d like to remind future students that it’s okay to maintain humbleness but also have confidence in themselves and their abilities. Lastly, you’re not an imposter and all your hard work and skills have gotten you to where you are today!

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Last updated by Office of Protected Resources on June 25, 2024