Work vs. Home
When mothers of young children decide to stay in the work force
or stay at home, their beliefs about the appropriate roles for
mothers can be as important as economic factors in the decision,
says Angela Hattery, assistant professor of sociology at Wake
Forest University. Her new book, "Women, Work and Family:
Balancing and Weaving," examines the ways mothers with young
children resolve the job-family conflict. Sage Publications
published the book in January 2001.
Hattery interviewed 30 married women, including 10 mothers who
stayed at home full-time, 10 mothers who were employed full-time
and 10 mothers who were employed part-time. She selected women
from various economic groups with various numbers of children, but
each of the women had an 18-month-old child at the time of the
interviews.
"The interviews
suggest that economic need is only one of a host of factors which
determine the labor force participation of mothers with young
children," said Hattery.
The data illustrates that mothers resolve the job-family
conflict in four different ways based their beliefs about
motherhood or their "motherhood ideology," Hattery said.
She identified four types of mothers: conformists,
non-conformists, pragmatists and innovators.
"I hope people can find themselves in these pages and feel
validated," Hattery said. "A lot of women feel that they
are the only one doing it this way. So this is a way of validating
multiple options for balancing work and family."
Conformists believe that the only way to be a good mother is to
stay at home. This model of intensive mothering developed in the
late 1940s in post-World War II America, Hattery said. Although
moms were often home with their children before then, they were
not able to devote themselves primarily to childrearing.
"The work of running a household without the help of
modern appliances and convenience foods, prevented women from
focusing completely on their children," Hattery said. But, by
the late 1950s, women began "not staying at home being
housewives, but being mothers."
The conformists are likely to stay at home even when this
requires tremendous financial sacrifice.
The non-conformists reject the intensive motherhood ideology,
believing that they can work and still be good mothers. They feel
a responsibility to provide economically for the family, feel
entitled to pursue their own career interests and believe
professional childcare benefits their children.
The pragmatists, although they tend to subscribe to the
stay-at-home mother model popularized in the 1950s, make their
decisions about employment based on practical considerations. With
input from their husbands, they conduct a cost-benefit analysis
weighing the pros and cons of working. Some decide to work, while
others decide to stay at home. The pragmatists tend to idealize
fulfilling, well-paying part-time employment, Hattery said. But,
many are frustrated about not being able to attain that goal.
The innovators accept the stay-at-home mother ideal, too, but
reject the standard methods of achieving a balance between work
and family. "Innovators create new ways of meeting the
demands of both their roles as caretakers and economic providers
for their families," Hattery said.
Strategies they use include working shifts that do not overlap
with their husbands' or working from home. Some of the innovators
in the study who worked considered themselves stay-at-home moms
because they did not use outside childcare. They balance schedules
with fathers and found ways to work without compromising what they
saw as their duties as mothers.
The conformists, the non-conformists and the innovators were
happy with their decisions to either stay at home or to work
despite the financial stress or time pressures they faced. The
pragmatists, whether they chose to work or not, were the most
dissatisfied with their situations. Pragmatists staying at home
full-time felt guilty about not contributing financially to their
families and about not pursuing the careers they had worked so
hard to attain. Those pragmatists who were employed full-time felt
guilty about not spending more time with their children.
"Satisfaction with your work situation has more to do with
what you think you should be doing than what you actually are
doing," the Wake Forest professor discovered.
Options for child care played a significant role in employment
decision-making particularly for the pragmatists, Hattery said.
She devotes a book chapter to the topic and explores the various
ways child care strategies are selected and created in order for
mothers with young children to weave work and family together as
seamlessly as possible.
In her interview with mothers, Hattery also found that employed
mothers and stay-at-home mothers were critical of each other's
choices. She hopes the book will help bridge the divide between
these women.
"I would love it if women who go to work would understand
better those who stay at home, and that women who stay at home
would better understand that choice." |
