Working moms do it better (than they used to)

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.

6 comments October 19th, 2006

Moms, rejoice!

The Working Mother Top 100 list is out. For those not in the know, it’s a list the mag puts out annually to give props to the companies with the most family-friendly policies — you know, flex time, telecommuting, paid leave, and all that good stuff many of us never, ever see in the workplace. To search for a gig at a company like this, check out the mom-friendly filter on the job site SimplyHired. (Do an advanced search, and under Company, select from the Special Filters menu.)

If you’re not a mom, does this mean you’re SOL? Hardly. Yours truly boasts a client on this list and you won’t see me procreating any time soon. (Sorry, mom.) Family friendly means worker friendly, unless of course your employer has the nasty habit of heaping the heaviest load on its childless workers. Some do. One would be wise to avoid those outfits like the plague.

A final note: If you can’t open the Working Mother Top 100 list, you can read it on BusinessWeek too, as Feministing kindly pointed out this morning.

Add comment September 26th, 2006