working moms
Working Moms Are Nothing New
Nancy Pearcey, executive editor of Chuck Colson's BreakPoint radio program and a telecommuting mother herself, says telecommuting is helping parents "return to a more humane style of work" — a pattern of work reminiscent of how parents in generations past integrated work and family.
Think back to the colonial era. As Pearcey notes in "Rediscovering Parenthood in the Information Age," "It was a rugged life, yet one conducive to strong family bonds. With rare exceptions (e.g., sailors, soldiers) men worked in the home and its outbuildings or the surrounding fields. Husband and wife worked together in a common economic enterprise [and] trained their children in the diverse skills needed for survival in a pre-industrial society" (from The Family in America).
But thanks to the Industrial Revolution, this cooperative lifestyle began to disintegrate. Productive work began to be carried on outside the home, which led to "an inherent tension ... between the two fundamental tasks of making a living and raising children. The 19th century solution, Pearcey writes, "was to split these tasks between the sexes: Fathers began going out to work in factories and offices" while mothers stayed at home to raise the children.
"By the close of the 19th century, Pearcey writes, "most of the traditional female occupations — such as weaving, baking and brewing — had been removed from the home and transferred to the factory." Women at home were reduced from active producers to passive consumers, leading to a loss of a sense of self-worth.
The response of early feminists (like the feminists of today) was to urge women to join their husbands in finding work outside the home. "The opposite alternative, of course," Pearcey writes, "is to bring work back into the home" — to return to the pattern families commonly followed for thousands of years.
That's exactly what modern parents are choosing to do. A recent study (by Find/SVP) found that in 1990, some four million people worked from home. Today, according to the Washington Times, that number has skyrocketed to an estimated 40 million, and is growing by about 20 percent a year. Fifty-three percent of these telecommuters are women, many of them mothers.
Do these folks long for the collegiality, the bustle and excitement of a real office? Don't make them laugh. A survey conducted for Telecommute America revealed that these modem moms and dads are "extremely happy with their jobs." So happy, according to another survey, that they say "nothing would make me give it up." Except, possibly, a doubling of their salaries.
Background Information
What to Look For In a Nursery School or Playgroup
When you leave your child in someone else's care, there are some concerns you need to consider.
Questions and Answers
Do you feel it is still important to have Mom at home in the teen years?
Answer
Do you think it is all right for a woman to make it her exclusive career goal to be a wife and mother? Or should there be something else?
Answer
What do you think of placing children in child-care centers so mothers can work?
Answer
Review Frequently Asked Questions
Stories
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If you've been through a experience related to this topic, we invite you to share your story with others.Share Your Story
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Fitting Kids Into a Life
We're well-versed in how to make it in the corporate world. What we need is a little advice about making it in the nursery.
Related Topics
Transitions: Changing Jobs, Moving
Relationships: Communication Gaps
Parenting Teens: Communication Problems
