Working mothers and Stress
How the Modern Woman Juggles Work and Child-Rearing
An article highlighting the positive and negative aspects of mothers returning to work and how her stress levels and well-being are duly affected.
An increasing number of women nowadays are faced with the task of juggling the roles of mother and employee. Whilst some studies report that working mothers experience high levels of stress as compared to unemployed mothers (Hochshild & Machung, 1989), others conclude that mothers who partake in paid employment benefit greatly for a number of different reasons (Barnett, Marshall & Sayer, 1992).
Research has focused on two competing theories. The first is the role enhancement theory, arguing that paid employment benefits women psychologically and socially through increased social interaction with fellow adults and increased self esteem that comes with financial independence and increased status. Other research has focused on the role overload theory, which argues that working mothers are faced with the demands and pressures of juggling multiple roles, leading to physical and emotional exhaustion and adversely affecting women’s health.
Hochschild (1989) found that women who work outside the home are faced with a second shift or additional working month of 24 hours per annum compared to working men with children. In a study by Baxter and Westin (1998), it was found that married women performed around 64% of the total amount of household work and that their contribution as compared to married men was particularly high when it came to work indoors (78%) and childcare (67%). Whilst on average men reported spending around 23 hours per week on childcare and 9 hours per week on housework, women reported 58 hours and 24 hours per week respectively.
Incompatibility between work and family life arises due to a number of factors. For instance, a mother who would like to progress in her career and obtain a promotion may feel she has to spend longer hours at work like her colleagues, but this isn’t possible as she has to leave work at a specific time to pick up the child from childcare or school/nursery. Performing multiple roles results in what may be termed ‘family-work spillover’. This occurs when the demands from family and home life impinge upon one’s ability to perform effectively in the workplace.
‘Work-family spillover’ may also occur due to having to juggle multiple roles, and may result when the pressures from work have an effect on one’s attitude and behaviour within the family. A study by Hoffman (1963) showed that work stress has an influence on the quality of the parent-child interaction in such a way that women who were not happy in their jobs used harsher methods of discipline and showed less affection with their children than those mothers who were happy at work. On the contrary, the work-family spillover may be a positive one. A study by Reynolds,Callender and Edwards (2003) found that many mothers saw their work identity, work skills and their feelings about work as affecting their family relationships and home life in a positive way.
Research suggests that there are a number of factors which may interact, having a buffering effect or, alternatively, intensifying the stress felt by working mothers. For instance, whilst having a supportive partner and a well-paid job may act as a buffer to the effects of stress, being a single mother whilst also having a low-paid job can exacerbate the stress felt.
The decision to work or not to work outside the home whilst bringing up children is not an easy one. Many women, due to financial constraints, do not feel that they have a choice. However, regardless of which situation one is in, the modern family needs support from those closest to them, one’s place of work and the government, in terms of legislation. Such support would not only reduce the stress felt by mothers but benefit the family unit as a whole.
