Working moms do it better (than they used to)
October 19th, 2006
Contrary to popular belief, working moms (and dads) spend more time with their kids than their 1960s counterparts, according to a New York Times report this week. How do they do it? By letting the house go and letting dad pick up some of the slack.
I quote:
The researchers found, to their surprise, that married and single parents spent more time teaching, playing with and caring for their children than parents did 40 years ago.
For married mothers, the time spent on child care activities increased to an average of 12.9 hours a week in 2000, from 10.6 hours in 1965. For married fathers, the time spent on child care more than doubled, to 6.5 hours a week, from 2.6 hours. Single mothers reported spending 11.8 hours a week on child care, up from 7.5 hours in 1965.
“As the hours of paid work went up for mothers, their hours of housework declined,” said Bianchi. “It was almost a one-for-one trade.”
Fathers have picked up some of the slack. Married fathers are spending more time on housework: an average of 9.7 hours a week in 2000, up from 4.4 hours in 1965. That increase was more than offset by the decline in time devoted to housework by married mothers: 19.4 hours a week in 2000, down from 34.5 hours in 1965.
Right on! And take that, Religious Right! Thanks to Broadsheet for tipping me off to this report.
Entry Filed under: Working moms
6 Comments Add your own
1. naomi | October 19th, 2006 at 4:30 pm
my house was no cleaner when i was unemployed vs. having a job. I hate cleaning either way. But i did manage to pay a housekeeper when I was getting a paycheck!
2. Michelle Goodman | October 19th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
your filth is no match for mine, i assure you.
3. Alle | October 19th, 2006 at 5:41 pm
FYI, it’s not just the Religious Right. I know a ridioculous number of groovey, millenium guys who are committed to fathering, who still look at their job (over hers) as the real consideration. Who come home and sit on their asses while their wives make dinner, clean up, get the kids ready for bed, and pack off the next day’s lunches. If a child wakes in the middle of the night. the wife gets up. If a child is sick, the wife takes time off work. If she is the stay-home parent (ie; primary childcare, which would coast between a thousand and two thousand a month, per child, should you have to pay a professional), by god, it’s not their money. It’s his.
I know five men in the whole country who have given up their careers to be primary care, or have dropped to part-time (ie: been willing to let his career take the same hit as hers) during those years with small children. Of course, there is a certain amount of financial priviledge needed for one or both parents to drop to part time work. However, anyone who is willing and truley believes that euqlaity in a relationship makes for a healthier happier family CAN wash a dish.
Keep up the great posts.
Alle
4. Michelle Goodman | October 19th, 2006 at 6:36 pm
thanks, alle. how disheartening! can i have the phone numbers of those guys so i can call them up and give them a talking to? sheesh.
5. Janna Cawrse | October 27th, 2006 at 11:20 am
If you want to read more on this, I highly recommend Flux by Peggy Orenstein. She interviews women across the country (albeit upper-middle class women who, as Alle pointed out, have the privilege to actually have choices about career and child care) and makes some pretty amazing discoveries about women’s so-called freedom. Check it out here: http://www.farfilm.com/peggy/flux/flux.htm.
6. Michelle Goodman | October 27th, 2006 at 11:45 am
thanks, janna. i have this book on my shelf. the parts i’ve skimmed were great. i still need to sit down and read the whole thing. did you like it better than “bitch in the house”? BITH strikes me as a tad privileged, whiny, though definitely entertaining, from the few pieces i’ve read. i realize it’s a different animal — BITH being personal essay, FLUX being journalism. and… i probably shouldn’t say this without reading the whole book (BITH), but i can’t stop myself: relationships and parenting and marriage and in-laws and mortgages are hard; if people don’t want hard, maybe they should think twice before they sign up. then again, i whined about my freelance life this week, so who am i to talk?
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