Working mothers influence the outcomes of their children

Working mothers influence the outcomes of their children - male and female children

Working mothers influence the outcome of their children, both male and female children. Working mothers have daughters who are more educated and higher earners than daughters of non-working mothers. Working mothers have sons who do more housework and childcare than sons of non-working mothers. These results are according to a gender and employment survey of 25 developed countries (Canberra Times 18, May 2015).

The International Social Survey Program of the Harvard Business School released their findings of their gender division survey on May 17, 2015. The survey involved more than 50,000 adults from 25 developed countries, including Australia.

The findings showed that daughters of working mothers were more educated, having completed more years of formal education than daughters of non-working mothers. The daughters earned more money and were more likely to be employed in senior roles. In the study, 69% of women with a working mother were employed with 22% of them in supervisory roles, compared with 66% and 18% for women raised by stay-at-home mothers. The daughters of working mothers earned 6% more than those from mothers who did not work outside the home.

Having a working mother did not affect the careers of their sons. However their sons spent more time on childcare (looking after their siblings) and domestic chores. Sons of working mothers spent an extra hour caring for their brothers and sisters each week than sons of stay-at-home mothers, and they devoted 17 minutes more per week to domestic chores than sons from non-working mothers.

The researchers also found that the division of paid and unpaid work among children of working mothers was more likely to lead to more stable marriages. They concluded that male support at home encouraged a woman’s participation in the workforce, and that this might lead to more stable marriages.

Australia was ranked in the middle of the 25 countries on attitudes to gender. The Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden were among the most egalitarian, whereas Chile, Mexico, the Philippines, and Russia were among the most conservative on gender issues.

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