An unpublished Harvard Study suggests that having a working mother has some educational, economic and social benefits for children of both genders. That said, there is also a benefit to children who spend more time with parents. Anti-feminists and Fox “News” “experts” would have you believe a mother’s place is at home taking care of the children and serving her man. (And if that’s what rocks your world – more power to you. But don’t assume to speak for ALL mothers.) Research shows that children with working mothers and fathers also have something to gain.
From NY Times: “In a new study of 50,000 adults in 25 countries, daughters of working mothers completed more years of education, were more likely to be employed and in supervisory roles and earned higher incomes. Having a working mother didn’t influence the careers of sons, which researchers said was unsurprising because men were generally expected to work — but sons of working mothers did spend more time on child care and housework.
Some of these effects were strong in the United States. Here, daughters of working mothers earned 23 percent more than daughters of stay-at-home mothers, after controlling for demographic factors, and sons spent seven and a half more hours a week on child care and 25 more minutes on housework.”
According to a 2007 Pew research study, 41 percent of working adults believe the increase of working moms is bad for society, while 22 percent believe it’s good.
Personal beliefs aside, the cold hard facts are that most families require two working parents to make ends meet.
Kathleen McGinn, a professor at Harvard Business School and an author of the study, said, “Part of this working mothers’ guilt has been, ‘Oh, my kids are going to be so much better off if I stay home,’ but what we’re finding in adult outcomes is kids will be so much better off if women spend some time at work.”
She added, “This is as close to a silver bullet as you can find in terms of helping reduce gender inequalities, both in the workplace and at home.”
New York University economics professor Raquel Fernandez was not involved with the Harvard study but has researched the topic and argues that other factors might be involved. “The problem is we don’t know how these mothers differed. Was it really her mother working who did this, or was it her mother getting an education?”
The Harvard study found that sons who are raised by working mothers were significantly more likely to have a spouse who worked. Sons of working mothers also spent an additional hour a week caring for family members and 17 minutes more per week on housework. Research has found that an increase in the involvement of women in the labor force could also lead to more stable marriages.
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