A Bump in Stay-at-Home Moms

Pew Research recently released their analysis of data from the 2013 March supplement to the Current Population Survey, showing that there has been a rise in the percentage of mothers who are staying at home to care for their children. The most obvious potential reason for this could be the difficulty that some mothers have had finding a job in a lackluster economic environment. That was a point picked up on by MSNBC. On the other hand, Time had a take on the story that came closer to my thinking on the subject--where are the stay-at-home (or even do-some-work-at-home) Dads??

In sum: Stay-at-home mothers don’t need to be objects of our collective, envious projected fantasies about lifestyles of the rich and unsalaried — but a lot of them do need our help. They need ESL classes and job training; access to work that pays a livable wage, and, among other forms of parenting support, access to affordable, high-quality child care.

They also, quite frankly, if married, need their husbands to step up to the plate and give them a break. Full-time child rearing and care of a home is work — unpaid, undervalued, often overwhelming and emotionally draining work. It’s work that, while revered by Mother’s Day cards, comes with none of the financial empowerment of paid labor, and brings much less personal empowerment, too.

One of the other findings was that immigrants mothers are more likely than native-born mothers to be staying at home with the kids. This could be, of course, simply that it is harder for them to find jobs, or it may represent a different cultural perspective on parenting. Either way, there needs to be more emphasis on the role of husbands and fathers in the everyday life of the family.