In 2016 in Ireland, 64 percent of women were in some sort of employment.
And many of those women are also mothers. In short, working (in some capacity) and being a mum is increasingly commonplace.
But so is talk of ‘mom guilt’ aka feeling guilty for working AND for having children (ridiculous, we know).
Of course, there’s no doubt that juggling it all is a serious challenge at times – and certainly none of us needs the added worry of our kids somehow being at a disadvantage because we’re earning a salary.
Last year, a study from Oxford University and the London School of Economics found that children whose parents both go out to work actually develop faster than those who stay at home full-time.
And now there is further reassurance: when comparing surveys of 100,000 men and women from 29 countries, Harvard professor Kathleen L McGinn found “no significant associations between maternal employment and self-reported overall happiness for men or women”.
In fact, the study adds, adults who were raised by a working mother enjoy a few added benefits – namely having a strong, female role model in place.
Women whose mothers worked are also “more likely to be employed and, if employed, are more likely to hold supervisory responsibility, work more hours and earn higher incomes than their peers whose mothers were not employed”.
Sons of working mothers spend more time on housework and childcare than men who were raised by stay-at-home mums, and are more likely to be married to women who are employed.
We should add – there are probably plenty of other benefits to having your mum around at home, but it’s nice to hear that those of us who are out working shouldn’t worry needlessly.
