the problems of working mothers essay std 10

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Essay on “Problems of Working Women” Complete Essay for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Problems of Working Women

The liberated woman has come to the face today. The term chiefly implies a woman who is independent economically. For other things a woman still needs her husband and family. She cannot be liberated in matters of marriages and family otherwise she will not be accepted by society. When we consider the problems of a working woman in our society, her domestic life comes to mind immediately. What is a modern working woman like?

A working woman of today may belong to the middle, lower or higher echelons of society. Working women of middle or lower class have the work for economic reasons while those belonging to the higher class work to pass time. The woman who works for financial reasons has to face many problems. They have to work in an office or organization, full-time. Often she is sniggered at; people make passes at her and criticize her work just because she is a woman. However hard working she might be in her work, there are people ready to find faults in her work in order to harass her if she does not submit to their lewd advances. And the poor woman cannot report against these people for fear of losing her job or her reputation in the eyes of colleagues, family or society. She, indeed, has to keep walking on a razors edge all the time.

Her domestic life is also not smooth. She does not get any reprieve from household work because of her office job. She has to get up early in the morning to finish her household chores, get the children ready for school, prepare breakfast and lunch for her husband and school going children, clean the house before she is ready to go to office. The western concept of the husband helping in household chores has not taken roof in our country yet. When she comes back in the evening she has to help her children with their studies, prepare evening meals and try and look pleasant in front of family members and guests. Nobody bothers to find out her requirement to be fulfilled. Nobody shows any consideration for the poor working woman. She is sandwiched between two worlds and reduced to a virtual robot, trying to perform her functions and duties to the best of her abilities. Woe betides her if she falters even once from the set path.

The concept of working woman, leading a blissful domestic life, has not yet been accepted bye out society. It is time to give some attention to the poor, harassed working woman who also bears the burden of domesticity. It lies with her husband and her immediate family to help lighter burden and assist her in leading a normal happy life.

Essay No. 02

Inequality between Men and Women in Workplace

Problems Faced by Women in Workplace

In this century, a woman actively participates in workplace. Many women desire a career and a place in this world. They want to stand on their own two feet, to become self-independent individuals, independent and free from other individuals. One thing that is clear is that women in all careers are striving to gain equality in the work force today. Through their determination, women now have the ability to break out of the gender roles that were created for them by society. One of the issues that have affected women in the workplace is that of stereotyping of women. Throughout history women have taken the role of housewife, mother, and nurturer. Women are stereotyped to stay at home and take care of the house and children. It has been their job to cook the meals, do the laundry, and manage the children’s school activities. Even today, motherhood is still considered to be the primary role for women. Women who do not take on this role are still thought of as selfish. Women that look to establish careers outside the home, for years, were thought of as being selfish and self-centered. Because women were viewed as homemakers they were often given jobs that were meaningless, and they were not thought of as managers or professionals. Even today, women are not treated the same as men. One i area that clearly shows this oppression is the area of equal pay for equal jobs. Another area in which women are at a disadvantage in the workplace is through discrimination. Discrimination can be an uncomfortable situation for the women involved. There are two types of discrimination, indirect and direct. Indirect discrimination might be a women being overlooked for a promotion, or an employee displaying inappropriate sexual material in the workplace. Direct discrimination may include a women being discharged from her employment because she is pregnant, or being excluded from after work group events. Another major area were women have been affected in the workplace is sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is closely linked to sex discrimination. Sexual discrimination forces women into lower paying jobs, and sexual harassment helps keep them there. One thing is clear, whether the problem is sexual harassment or sexual discrimination the problem continues to exist in the workplace, creating tension that make their jobs more difficult. In the last decade, companies have turned their attention to some of these issues. There has been more training and education about women’s issues. Even though there is more corporate training for these issues, this training may not work, but start educating people. Women need to overcome the image that they are sensitive People, which let their emotions control their mind. They need to, prove that they can think with their minds and not their hearts when it comes to business. Most people want to correct the unequal treatment of women in the workplace. One method that can be used to support equality would be to introduce legislation to guarantee equal pay for equal work. The logistical problems associated with this solution would be great. How would people measure the value of one person’s work another’s? ‘Who would decide this and how would it be implemented?

Our attitudes toward women in the workplace are slowly starting to change. More opportunities are appearing for women workers today than ever before. The unequal treatment of working women will take years to change, but change is occurring. This topic will remain until people treat and pay women equally, based upon their abilities. There have been many remedies introduced into the workplace that have tried to address the injustice toward women in the workplace.

Although there have been many improvements for women in the workplace but there are still many inequalities for women when compared to men. Remedies are needed to secure a fair and equal role in the workplace. This change can only fully occur when we change the attitudes of every individual toward women. When we accomplish that then we can finally achieve gender equality in the workplace.

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Essay on Working Mothers

Students are often asked to write an essay on Working Mothers in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Working Mothers

The importance of working mothers.

Working mothers play a pivotal role in our society. They not only contribute to the family’s income but also serve as role models for their children. They teach important values like hard work, independence, and resilience.

Challenges Faced by Working Mothers

Balancing work and family life can be challenging for working mothers. They often juggle multiple responsibilities like professional tasks, child care, and household chores. Despite these challenges, they strive to excel in both domains.

The Impact on Children

Children of working mothers learn to be independent and responsible from an early age. They get inspired to pursue their dreams and ambitions, seeing their mothers’ dedication and commitment.

Also check:

10 Lines on Working Mothers

250 Words Essay on Working Mothers

Introduction.

The concept of ‘working mothers’ has evolved significantly over the years, shifting from a socio-economic necessity to an emblem of women’s empowerment. This phenomenon has not only transformed the structure of the family but also influenced societal norms and perceptions.

The Evolution of Working Mothers

Historically, mothers were confined to the domestic sphere, responsible for nurturing the family. The feminist movement, however, challenged this traditional view, advocating for women’s rights to work and contribute economically. The rise of working mothers since then represents a significant shift in societal structures.

Impact on Family Dynamics

Working mothers have redefined family dynamics. They have proven that it is possible to raise children while pursuing a career, thereby debunking the myth of the ‘ideal’ mother being confined to the home. This shift has also led to a more equitable distribution of household chores, promoting gender equality.

Economic Implications

Working mothers contribute significantly to the economy. They not only support their families financially but also add to the national income. This economic independence further empowers them, allowing them to make decisions about their lives and families.

Challenges and Solutions

Despite the progress, working mothers face numerous challenges, including societal judgment, work-life balance issues, and lack of support. Addressing these issues requires societal change, flexible work policies, and robust support systems.

In conclusion, working mothers are a testament to the evolving roles of women in society. They symbolize resilience, strength, and the ability to balance multiple roles, thereby challenging traditional norms and contributing to societal progress.

500 Words Essay on Working Mothers

Working mothers are an integral part of society, demonstrating the epitome of multitasking by juggling personal and professional responsibilities. They are the pillars of their households and workplaces, contributing significantly to the economy while shaping the future generation.

Historically, societal norms and expectations confined women to domestic roles. However, the rise of feminism and women’s rights movements in the 20th century led to a paradigm shift, encouraging women to step out of their homes and pursue careers. Today, working mothers are prevalent across various sectors, from science and technology to arts and humanities.

The Balancing Act

The life of a working mother is a delicate balance between work and home. They often face the “double burden” of managing household chores and professional tasks, leading to a phenomenon known as “time poverty.” Despite these challenges, many working mothers successfully navigate this complex terrain through effective time management, family support, and flexible work arrangements.

Impact on Children and Society

The impact of working mothers on children and society is multifaceted. Children of working mothers often grow up to be independent, resilient, and empathetic, having witnessed their mothers’ hard work and dedication. Moreover, working mothers contribute to the economy, help reduce gender wage gaps, and challenge traditional gender roles, fostering a more equitable society.

The Role of Employers and Policy Makers

Employers and policy makers play a crucial role in facilitating the journey of working mothers. Workplaces need to offer flexible hours, remote work options, and family-friendly policies. On the policy front, governments should ensure equal pay, provide affordable childcare, and enforce maternity and paternity leave laws.

Working mothers are the backbone of a progressive society. They not only contribute to their family’s well-being and the economy, but also inspire the next generation to challenge societal norms and strive for equality. The journey of a working mother is challenging yet rewarding, filled with hurdles and triumphs. By acknowledging their efforts and providing them with the necessary support, we can create a society where both men and women can thrive in their personal and professional lives.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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What research says about the kids of working moms

We spotlight research on working moms. Overall, the research suggests maternal employment has little impact on kid's behavior and academic achievement over the short term and may have long-term benefits.

Woman wearing military uniform interacting with toddler

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .

by Denise-Marie Ordway, The Journalist's Resource August 6, 2018

This <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org/economics/working-mother-employment-research/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org">The Journalist's Resource</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://journalistsresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cropped-jr-favicon-150x150.png" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">

Most American moms work outside the home. Nearly 70 percent of women with children under age 18 were in the labor force in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

In recent decades, as more mothers take paid positions, families, policymakers and scholars have wondered how the trend may impact children, especially during their early years. Many women, single parents in particular, must work because they either can’t afford to stay at home to raise their kids or the government agencies they rely on for assistance require them to be employed.

Work is also a choice for a lot of women. As more women in the United States complete college degrees — the percentage of women earning bachelor’s degrees skyrocketed between 1967 and 2015 — many have opted to leave their youngsters with a family member or daycare provider while they pursue careers and other professional interests.

Is this trend good or bad? Are kids with working moms different from kids whose moms are unemployed? Do they have more or fewer behavioral problems? Are their academic skills stronger or weaker? Let’s look at what the research says.

The good news: Overall, maternal employment seems to have a limited impact on children’s behavior and academic achievement over the short term. And there appear to be benefits in the long-term. A study published in 2018 finds that daughters raised by working moms are more likely to be employed as adults and have higher incomes.

Below, we’ve gathered a sampling of the academic research published or released on this topic in recent years. If you’re looking for workforce trend data, check out the U.S. Department of Labor’s website , which offers a variety of reports on women at work. A May 2018 report from the Pew Research Center, “7 Facts about U.S. Moms,” provides some useful context.

———–

“When Does Time Matter? Maternal Employment, Children’s Time With Parents, and Child Development” Hsin, Amy; Felfe, Christina. Demography , October 2014. DOI: 10.1007/s13524-014-0334-5.

Do working moms spend less time with their children? And if they do, does that hurt kids’ cognitive development? Amy Hsin from Queens College-City University of New York and Christina Felfe of the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland teamed up to investigate.

The gist of what they found: Mothers who work full-time do spend less time with their children, but they tend to trade quantity of time for better quality time. “On average, maternal work has no effect on time in activities that positively influence children’s development, but it reduces time in types of activities that may be detrimental to children’s development,” Hsin and Felfe explain. Each week, kids whose mothers work full-time spend 3.2 fewer hours engaged in “unstructured activities” — activities that don’t require children and parents to be actively engaged and speaking to one another — compared to kids whose moms are unemployed.

The researchers also find that children with college-educated mothers spend more time on educational activities as well as “structured” activities, which require kids to be actively engaged with their parents. “For example, college-educated mothers and their partners spend 4.9 hours and 2.5 hours per week, respectively, engaged in educational activities with their children; by comparison, mothers with less than [a] high school diploma and their partners spend only 3.3 hours and 1.7 hours per week in educational activities, respectively,” according to the study.

Maternal employment, generally speaking, appears to have a positive effect on children’s cognitive development. “When comparing the effect of maternal employment on child outcomes between stay-at-home mothers and mothers who work full-time, we see that the reduction in unstructured time resulting from full-time employment amounts to an improvement in children’s cognitive development of 0.03 to 0.04 SD [standard deviation],” the authors write. For children under age 6, the improvement is larger.

“Learning from Mum: Cross-National Evidence Linking Maternal Employment and Adult Children’s Outcomes” McGinn, Kathleen L.; Castro, Mayra Ruiz; Lingo, Elizabeth Long. Work, Employment and Society , April 2018. DOI: 10.1177/0950017018760167.

These researchers analyzed data from two surveys conducted across 29 countries to examine how men and women had been influenced by their mother’s work status. The main takeaway: Daughters raised by working mothers are more likely to have jobs as adults — and those who have jobs are more likely to supervise others, work longer hours and earn higher incomes.

There doesn’t appear to be a link between maternal employment and employment for sons, according to the study. However, men whose mothers worked while they were growing up spend about 50 minutes more caring for family members each week than men whose moms didn’t work.

The study, led by Kathleen L. McGinn of Harvard Business School , notes that these outcomes are “due at least in part to employed mothers’ conveyance of egalitarian gender attitudes and life skills for managing employment and domestic responsibilities simultaneously. Family-of-origin social class matters: women’s likelihood of employment rises with maternal employment across the socio-economic spectrum, but higher incomes and supervisory responsibility accrue primarily to women raised by mothers with more education and higher skill jobs.”

“Increasing Maternal Employment Influences Child Overweight/Obesity Among Ethnically Diverse Families” Ettinger, Anna K.; Riley, Anne W.; Price, Carmel E. Journal of Family Issues , July 2018. DOI: 10.1177/0192513X18760968.

This study looks at how maternal employment affects the weight status of Black and Latino children from low-income families in Boston, Chicago and San Antonio. The researchers find that an increase in a mother’s “work intensity” — for example, when a mother transitions from being unemployed to working or switches from part-time to full-time work — increases the odds that her child will be overweight or obese.

Kids whose mothers increased their work schedules during the children’s first few years of life were more likely to have a weight problem. “Children of mothers who increased their employment status during children’s preschool years had over 2.6 times the odds of being overweight/obese at 7 to 11 years of age compared with children of nonworking mothers,” the authors write. They also write that their results “suggest that changing work schedules and increasing work hours over time may be more disruptive to family environments and child weight than maintaining constant levels of employment over time (whether that is not working at all or working full-time).”

The researchers note that within their sample of 602 children, having consistent family routines such as mealtimes and bedtimes were associated with a 61 percent reduction in the odds of being overweight or obese. They also note that youth whose parents live together, whether married or not, tended to have lower odds of being overweight or obese than children living with single mothers.

“The Effect of Maternal Employment on Children’s Academic Performance” Dunifon, Rachel; Hansen, Anne Toft; Nicholson, Sean; Nielsen, Lisbeth Palmhøj. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 19364, August 2013.

Rachel Dunifon , the interim dean of Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology, led this study, which explores whether maternal employment improves children’s academic achievement. Dunifon and her colleagues analyze a data set for 135,000 children who were born in Denmark between 1987 and 1992 and followed through the ninth grade.

A key finding: Danish children whose mothers worked during their childhood had higher grade-point averages at age 15 than children whose mothers did not work. And children whose mothers worked between 10 and 19 hours a week had better grades than kids whose mothers worked full-time or only a few hours per week. “The child of a woman who worked between 10 and 19 hours per week while her child was under the age of four is predicted to have a GPA that is 2.6 percent higher than an otherwise similar child whose mother did not work at all,” the authors write.

The researchers suggest their paper “presents evidence of a positive causal linkage between maternal work hours and the GPA of Danish teens. These associations are strongest when mothers work part-time, and among more advantaged mothers, and are not accounted for by mothers’ earnings.”

“Maternal Work Early in the Lives of Children and Its Distal Associations with Achievement and Behavior Problems: A Meta-Analysis” Lucas-Thompson, Rachel G.; Goldberg, Wendy A.; Prause, JoAnn. Psychological Bulletin , November 2010. DOI: 10.1037/a0020875.

This is an analysis of 69 studies that, over the span of five decades, look at the relationship between maternal employment during children’s early years and children’s behavior and academic performance later in life. Overall, the analysis suggests that early maternal employment is not commonly associated with lower academic performance or behavior problems.

The analysis did, however, find differences when comparing different types of families. Early maternal employment was associated with “positive outcomes (i.e., increased achievement and decreased behavior problems) for majority one-parent samples,” explain the three researchers, Rachel G. Lucas-Thompson , now an assistant professor at Colorado State University, and Wendy A. Goldberg and JoAnn Prause of the University of California, Irvine. Early maternal employment was associated with lower achievement within two-parent families and increased behavior problems among study samples comprised of a mix of one- and two-parent families.

The researchers offer this explanation: “The results of this meta-analysis suggest that early maternal employment in sole-provider families may bolster children’s achievement and buffer against problem behaviors, perhaps because of the added financial security and health benefits that accompany employment, as well as improved food, clothing, and shelter because of increased income and the psychological importance of having a role model for achievement and responsible behavior. In contrast, early maternal employment may be detrimental for the behavior of children in two-parent families if the increases in family income do not offset the challenges introduced by maternal employment during children’s early years of life.”

There were differences based on household income as well. For families receiving welfare, the researchers found a link between maternal employment and increased student achievement. For middle- and upper-class families, maternal employment was associated with lower achievement.

The researchers note that they tried to gauge how child-care quality might influence these results. But there weren’t enough studies to allow for a detailed analysis.

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The Harried Life of the Working Mother

Women now make up almost half of the U.S. labor force, up from 38% in 1970. This nearly forty-year trend has been fueled by a broad public consensus about the changing role of women in society. A solid majority of Americans (75%) reject the idea that women should return to their traditional roles in society, and most believe that both husband and wife should contribute to the family income.

But in spite of these long-term changes in behaviors and attitudes, many women remain conflicted about the competing roles they play at work and at home. Working mothers in particular are ambivalent about whether full-time work is the best thing for them or their children; they feel the tug of family much more acutely than do working fathers. As a result, most working mothers find themselves in a situation that they say is less than ideal.

They’re also more likely than either at-home moms or working dads to feel as if there just isn’t enough time in the day. Four-in-ten say they always feel rushed, compared with a quarter of the other two groups. But despite these pressures and conflicts, working moms, overall, are as likely as at-home moms and working dads to say they’re happy with their lives.

Whether women work outside the home or not, family responsibilities have a clear impact on the key life choices they make. Roughly three-in-ten women who are not currently employed (27%) say family duties keep them from working. And family appears to be one of the key reasons that many do not break through the “glass ceiling” to the top ranks of management — that’s the view, anyway, of about a third of the public.

Working Mothers

According to data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 59% of women now work or are actively seeking employment. An even higher percentage of women with children ages 17 or younger (66%) work either full or part time. Among those working mothers, most (74%) work full time while 26% work part time.

A survey taken this summer by the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project asked working mothers whether they would prefer to work full time or part time . A strong majority of all working mothers (62%) say they would prefer to work part time. Only 37% of working moms would prefer to work full time. Working fathers have a much different perspective. An overwhelming majority (79%) say they prefer full-time work. Only one-in-five say they would choose part-time work.

These findings echo the results of a 2007 Pew Research Center survey in which a majority of working mothers (60%) said the ideal situation for them would be to work part time . This represented a significant increase from 10 years earlier when only 48% of working mothers had said the same.

Women’s Growing Presence in the Workforce

The percentage of women working or actively seeking employment grew steadily from the 1950s onward, peaking in 2000. As an overall share of the labor force, women today comprise 47%. 1 The growth in the share of women in the workforce has leveled off in recent years, just as women’s participation rate stopped climbing. Nonetheless, the fact remains that women have transformed the American workplace over the past 50 years, and in so doing have created a series of conflicts and challenges for today’s working women that have proven to be difficult to resolve.

Public Views on the Changing Role of Women

As women have taken a more active role in the labor force, public opinion has become increasingly supportive of this new reality. The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has been tracking public attitudes on social and political values , including the changing role of women, for the past 20 years. In 1987, 30% of Americans said women should return to their traditional roles in society, while 66% disagreed with this statement. Today, only 19% agree that women should return to their traditional roles while 75% disagree.

Women and men are equally likely to reject the notion that women should return to their traditional roles. Young people are among the most progressive on this issue. Among those under age 30, 84% disagree with the idea that women should go back to a more traditional role.

Further evidence of the changing attitudes about family and the role of women can be seen in another item included in the Pew Research Center’s values surveys. Seven-in-ten Americans (71%) agree with the statement “I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage.” While still a strong majority, this is down significantly from 87% who held this view in 1987. Again men and women are in agreement on this issue, and young people express the least conservative views: 61% of those under age 30 say they have old-fashioned values about family and marriage.

Looking more specifically at the question of women and the workplace, data from the General Social Survey shows how attitudes changed from the late 1980s to the turn of the century. When asked whether they agreed or disagreed that both the husband and the wife should contribute to the household income, the percent of Americans who strongly agreed grew steadily from 1988 to 2002. In 1988 only 15% strongly agreed that both spouses should contribute to the household income, by 2002 29% strongly agreed (another 28% agreed but not strongly).

Even as society has become more accepting of women’s role in the workforce, attitudes about a special class of female workers — namely mothers of young children — have changed very little. In 1994 and again in 2002 the General Social Survey asked whether women should work outside the home under certain circumstances. In both years, strong majorities said a woman who is married but has not yet had children should work full time.

However, only 10% in 1994 and 11% in 2002 said a woman with a young child should work full time. Respondents were more accepting of full-time work for a woman whose youngest child had started school. However, even then pluralities in 1994 and 2002 said part-time work would be preferable under those circumstances.

Pew Research Center data shows that strong concern over the impact of day care on the nation’s children has persisted over time. In 1987, 68% of the public agreed that too many children are being raised in day care centers these days. In 2003, 72% agreed with this statement.

Mothers themselves are particularly concerned about this issue. In the 2003 Pew Research Center survey 50% of mothers with children under age 5 completely agreed that too many children are being raised in day care centers today. This compared with 36% among the general public.

The Challenges of Today’s Reality

Herein lies the dilemma: women are a permanent part of the workforce, society has endorsed this historic change, but public opinion hasn’t yet fully come to terms with the tradeoffs inherent in working and raising young children. Large majorities of Americans believe that the ideal situation for both mother and child is that a mother with young children does not hold a full-time job. Only 12% of the public says what’s best for a young child is that their mother works full time. Four-in-ten say the ideal situation for a young child is a mother who works part time, and 42% say what’s best is if the mother doesn’t work at all.

When it comes to what’s best for the mother, the results are strikingly similar: 12% say the ideal situation for mothers with young children is to work full time, 44% say part-time work is ideal and 38% say it’s best if the mother doesn’t work at all. In perhaps the most powerful evidence of the cross-pressures that many working mothers feel every day, only 13% of moms who work full time say having a mother who works full time is the ideal situation for a young child.

Men and women agree that a full-time working mother is not what’s best for a young child. However, while most dads (54%) say the ideal situation for a child is to have a mom who doesn’t work at all, a plurality of moms (49%) say having a mom who works part time is what would benefit a child most.

Why Some Women Don’t Work?

Roughly four-in-ten women, including 34% of women with children age 17 or younger, do not work outside the home. According to a 2007 Pew Research Center survey, these at-home moms are slightly younger, on average, than moms who work full or part time. They have less formal education and lower household incomes than working mothers. Only 21% of at-home moms are college graduates, compared with 34% of working moms. And, while 37% of at-home moms report an annual household income of less than $30,000, only 20% of working moms fall into this income category. 2

In addition, at-home moms are more likely than working moms to be Hispanic. In the 2007 survey, 27% of the at-home moms surveyed were Hispanic. This compares with 13% of working moms. African American women are more heavily concentrated among working mothers: 18% of mothers who work full or part time are black, while only 9% of those who don’t work are black.

When asked about the impact the rise in working mothers has had on society, at-home moms have a more critical view than do working moms. A plurality of at-home moms (44%) say the increase in working mothers with young children has been bad for society. Only 22% think this trend has been good for society, and 31% say it hasn’t made much difference. Working mothers are more evenly split on this question: 34% say the trend toward more mothers with young children working has been good for society, 34% say it has been bad for society and 31% say it hasn’t had much of an impact.

At-home moms and working moms also differ in their self-evaluations. When asked to rate the job they are doing as parents on a scale of 0 to 10 (with 10 being the highest), 43% of at-home moms give themselves either a 9 or a 10. Moms who work either full time or part time are harder on themselves — only 33% give themselves a 9 or 10.

The reasons women don’t work are somewhat different from the reasons men don’t work, and for women family is a much more important factor. Among those who are not working and not retired, the most important reasons men give for being unemployed are that they’ve looked and can’t find a job (51% say this is a “big reason”) or that they’ve been laid off or lost their job (37%).

Women who are not working and are not retired are less likely than men to say that being unable to find a job or losing a job are major reasons why they are not working. While 34% of women who are not employed say they are not working because they can’t find a job, more than a quarter (27%) say family or childcare responsibilities is a major reason why they are not working. Only 3% of men who are not employed say this is a major reason they are not working. In addition, women are more than four times as likely as men to say they are not working because their spouse or family doesn’t want them to work (14% vs. 3%).

The Glass Ceiling: Is Family a Factor?

A 2008 Pew Research Center survey explored the reasons why, in spite of their growing presence in the labor force, so few women have risen to the top ranks of American business and politics . Respondents were asked to evaluate a series of potential reasons why there are not more women in top level business positions and high political offices. With regard to business, what’s holding women back, according to the public, are the “old-boy network” and the fact that women haven’t had access to corporate America long enough to rise to the top. Many respondents also said that women’s family responsibilities don’t leave time for running a major corporation. Women themselves were somewhat more likely than men to say this is a major reason why so few top level business positions are held by women (37% vs. 32%).

When asked why there are not more women in high political offices, more than a quarter of the public (27%) said a major reason for this is that women’s responsibilities to family don’t leave time for politics. Other important reasons included that Americans simply aren’t ready to elect a woman to higher office (51% said this is a major reason), women who are active in party politics are held back by men (43%), and women are discriminated against in all areas of life including politics (38%). It’s worth noting that for both business and politics, very few people said that a lack of ability, toughness or experience were major reasons why more women haven’t gotten ahead in these fields.

The Day-to-Day Lives of Working Moms and Dads

What sort of impact does working and raising a family have on the day-to-day lives of mothers? And do working fathers experience the same stresses and strains?

One thing is quite clear — working mothers feel rushed. In a 2005 Pew Research Center survey, respondents were asked how they felt about their time — did they always feel rushed, only sometimes feel rushed or almost never feel rushed. Overall, 24% of the public said they always feel rushed. But working mothers’ lives are much more harried than the average American’s. Four-in-ten working mothers with children under age 18 said they always feel rushed, and another 52% said they sometimes feel rushed. By comparison, 26% of mothers who don’t work outside of the home said they always feel rushed as did 25% of working fathers. Whether mothers worked part time or full time didn’t make a difference: 41% of moms who work full time and 40% of those who work part time said they are constantly feeling rushed.

The 2008 Pew Research Center survey cited above included a question about the level of stress people experience in their daily lives. Relatively few Americans are immune from stress. Nearly three quarters say they experience stress sometimes (36%) or frequently (36%). Another 21% rarely experience stress and 5% say they never do. Women report experiencing somewhat more stress than men, and mothers have higher stress levels than fathers. For mothers, working outside the home does not seem to be correlated with stress. Mothers who stay at home are about as likely to say they frequently feel stressed as those who work full or part time. Working fathers are less likely than working mothers to feel stressed. In fact, 26% of fathers who work either full or part time and have children under age 18 say they rarely or never feel stressed. This compares with only 14% of working mothers.

The good news for working moms is that, although their lives may be chaotic, they are just as happy overall as at-home moms and working dads. In the 2008 Pew Research Center survey, 36% of working moms said they were very happy with their lives. An equal proportion of at-home moms said they were very happy, and 38% of working dads said the same. Similarly, working moms are just as likely as moms who don’t work outside the home to say they are very satisfied with their family life (78% of working moms vs. 75% of at-home moms).

One group of women who are less happy and less satisfied with their family lives is single moms with children under age 18. Only 27% say they are very happy compared with 41% of married moms, and 63% are very satisfied with their family life vs. 85% of moms who are married.

Where Do We Go from Here?

Undoubtedly working mothers will continue to juggle their many responsibilities at work and at home. Most would prefer to work part time but the reality is that relatively few actually have the opportunity to do so. Furthermore, the demands of a tighter labor market may make it even more difficult for women to find jobs that allow for part-time work or flexible schedules.

Working fathers are also juggling more these days than they did in the past. As women have gone into the labor force in greater numbers, men have assumed more responsibilities at home. Research shows that married fathers now spend roughly twice as much time caring for children and doing housework as they did in the 1960s. Women are now spending less time on housework than they were in the 1960s, however they still bear much more of the burden for both housework and child care than do fathers. 3

For their part, most fathers are content to work full time and few seem to feel conflicted over their competing roles at work and at home. Working women are left to wrestle with the competing demands of work and family.

This figure is based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Current Population Survey, a household survey which is designed to reflect the entire civilian noninstitutional population. An alternative data source is the BLS Establishment Survey, a survey of employers from private nonfarm businesses as well as federal, state, and local government entities. According to the BLS Establishment Survey, women comprise 49% of the private, nonfarm labor force. ↩
For purposes of this analysis, “at-home moms” are women who have children under age 18 and do not work. This is slightly different from the Census designation which defines “stay at home” as a mother who has a child under age 15 and stays out of the labor force to care for home and family while her spouse works. ↩
See Suzanne Bianchi, John Robinson and Melissa Milkie, “Changing Rhythms of American Family Life,” New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2006. ↩

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Becoming A Confident Parent

They do it all: Working moms share 10 real-time eternal struggles and how they try to overcome them

Working mothers live with the constant guilt of not being available for their little ones and make every effort to balance work and home. Here are some real struggles faced by most moms who go to work

They do it all: Working moms share 10 real-time eternal struggles and how they try to overcome them

A PR professional working in a multinational company and a mother to a three-year-old, Mansi has a lot on her plate. She sometimes feels like she's in a race that never seems to end. She leaves early after preparing the meals for the day and drops her daughter at her parent's home. Her profession demands her to be available to clients most of the day; there are times when she's to work late and her heart aches to come home and see her daughter already asleep.

Mothers who are employed full-time always grapple with the guilt that they are not giving enough time to their children. Being a mother is one of the hardest yet fulfilling jobs and when coupled with a full-fledged professional life, a working mom has a daunting task to fulfill. Managing the kids, taking care of the family and juggling the responsibilities of the home along with a career, work commitments and deadlines put a lot of pressure on the working mom.

However, working mothers have the advantage of having a life outside the confines of their homes and a chance to build their dreams and careers. According to a study conducted by Kathleen L McGinn at the Harvard Business School along with Mayra Ruiz Castro and Elizabeth Long Lingo, having a working mother improves children's prospects. Seeing mothers work both inside and outside the home allows children to understand that contributions at home and work are equally valuable, the study says.

Nonetheless, the struggles of a working mom are very real.

Here's taking a look.

1. The morning rush: Mornings can be extremely crazy for working moms. As a teacher who leaves behind her young kid at home, Shalini laments,

"The hardest part of my day is to wake my daughter early so that I can stick to my schedule and not be late for work. Getting ready for work while preparing breakfast, doing other household chores and getting the child ready for daycare/school is a formidable task."

2. Leaving behind an unwell child: There is nothing more heart-wrenching than to leave a sick child at home and go to work. I remember a friend breaking down at work because she had left her son, who was down with fever, at home. The guilt is just unbearable, and very often mothers of sick children take leave from work so that they can care for the little one. What this does is that it makes it difficult for the working mom to take an off when she is in need of rest.

3. Finding quality time: There are times when all you want to do is spend some quiet time bonding with your little one, maybe playing a board game or baking cookies together, or just listening to her talk about her day. Unfortunately, for a working mother, this is a luxury that takes a lot of effort and planning – even weekends are busy with sorting household chores and on weeknights, she may too tired or distracted to spend quality time with the child.

4. Having to make difficult choices: You put extra effort and time into that presentation so that your meeting goes off well the next morning. And to your horror, your child's school diary shows that there's a PTA meeting scheduled at the same time. You cannot ask your spouse because he is traveling. Prioritizing and choosing between work and child can be one of the unending dilemmas for mothers. Is attending the conference more important or helping the child learn for exams? This persistent, daily sorting of priorities can make life tough for even the most hardened time managers.

5. The elusive me-time: In the pursuit to handle everything, working moms often neglect taking care of themselves. They skip breakfast, eat unhealthy lunches, don't pay too much attention to grooming. They don't take time out for themselves because of the guilt of leaving their child behind. An uninterrupted movie, reading a book or a quiet evening spent just relaxing on the beach are things she may not be able to do. As Meenakshi, a working mom puts it,

"Sometimes, the pressure is so much that I wish I could just run off to an island, but then I realize that is being just outright mean and selfish."

6. Missing out on important milestones: "I missed seeing my little one take her first step. What I would have given to be there," says an HR manager and mother of a 13-month- old. Missing out on the little joys of watching your baby grow and reach important milestones makes the working mom feel miserable. It's worse when you have to hear it from others, while they describe the precise moment when your bundle of joy pulled herself up and started to wobble towards her first step.

7. Running on limited energy: You come home from work and are totally exhausted. That's when your children demand attention since they haven't seen you all day. They want to do something constructive with you, while you are still thinking about the dinner you can cook up in a jiffy! Sound familiar? It's an eternal struggle for working moms. You could read them a story or play checkers before going to bed, but seriously, who has the energy?

8. Daycare dilemma: Leave in a daycare center or get a nanny? Drop-in at grandma's home or enroll in a creche? For a mom with a small child, making the right decision is hard. While a nanny ensures the child is in familiar surroundings, a working mom will always be distracted about how the nanny is looking after her precious one. A creche means worrying about the quality of care.

9. Struggling to make it to playdates: This is a complaint that children with two working parents may have, and it is usually the mother who blames herself for not being available. It's worse when all your children's friends go for playdates, and your little ones are irritated that they never get to go. Between finishing deadlines, preparing meals for the family and helping with homework, where's the time?

10. Mommy guilt: The biggest challenge is to deal with the guilt that every working mother has. The guilt of leaving the child behind, spending less time with her and missing out on many moments of mothering. This underlying guilt always makes the working mother put herself last in the scheme of things.

Working moms are role models for not only the other women but also for their children and the younger generation. It's important to understand that it may get tough trying to make all things work and there'll be days when you feel like a messed-up underperformer. But be kind to yourself and believe that, in the long run, it'll all work out.

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Common challenges faced by working mothers and ways to overcome them

Visual Stories

Isaac E. Sabat 3 ,
Alex P. Lindsey 3 ,
Eden B. King 3 &
Kristen P. Jones 3

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Working mothers face different sets of challenges with regards to social identity, stigmatization, and discrimination within each stage of the employment cycle, from differential hiring practices, unequal career advancement opportunities, ineffective retention efforts, and inaccessible work-family supportive policies (Jones et al. in The Psychology for Business Success. Praeger, Westport, CT, 2013 ). Not only do these inequalities have negative effects on women, but they can also have a detrimental impact on organizations as a whole. In this chapter, we review several theoretical and empirical studies pertaining to the challenges faced by women throughout their work-motherhood transitions. We then offer strategies that organizations, mothers, and allies can use to effectively improve the workplace experiences of pregnant women and mothers. This chapter will specifically contribute to the existing literature by drawing on identity management and ally research from other domains to suggest additional strategies that female targets and supportive coworkers can engage into help remediate these negative workplace outcomes. Finally, we highlight future research directions aimed at testing the effectiveness of these and other remediation strategies, as well as the methodological challenges and solutions to those challenges associated with this important research domain. We call upon researchers to develop more theory-driven, empirically tested intervention strategies that utilize all participants in this fight to end gender inequality in the workplace.

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Sabat, I.E., Lindsey, A.P., King, E.B., Jones, K.P. (2016). Understanding and Overcoming Challenges Faced by Working Mothers: A Theoretical and Empirical Review. In: Spitzmueller, C., Matthews, R. (eds) Research Perspectives on Work and the Transition to Motherhood. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41121-7_2

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Malays Fam Physician
PMC10504895

Postpartum health of working mothers: A prospective study

Anak janting majorie ensayan.

2 DrPh (UNIMAS), Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia.

Whye Lian Cheah

1 PhD (USM), Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia. Email: ym.saminu@haehclw

Hazmi Helmy

3 MCommMed (USM), Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia.

Introduction:

Most working women experience poor physical and mental health during their postpartum period. This prospective study aimed to describe the physical and mental health issues faced by working mothers during their postpartum period.

Respondents were recruited using the proportional sampling method among mothers who attended the Maternal and Child Health Clinic in the Kuching division in Sarawak, Malaysia. Face-to-face interview was conducted using a questionnaire that consisted of items on socio-demographic data as well as perinatal, prenatal and postpartum factors, and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and a checklist of 28 specific postpartum symptoms were used during the first 6 weeks and after 12 weeks of childbirth.

A total of 281 respondents participated in this study. Fatigue (42.7%), back or neck pain (36.3%), breast discomfort (16.4%), dizziness (13.5%) and nipple irritation (11.0%) were among the most common symptoms experienced by the mothers during the first 6 weeks after childbirth. There was a significant decrease in the physical symptom scores of the respondents from the first 6 weeks to after 12 weeks of childbirth (1.73±1.96 vs 0.16±0.42; P<0.0005). A significant decrease was also found in the depression scores (6.26±4.26 vs 1.35±1.85, P<0.0005).

Conclusion:

The prevalence of postnatal depression was higher during the first 6 weeks of postpartum than after 12 weeks of postpartum. Screening and treatment of poor postpartum mental health among working women are essential owing to the impacts on occupational outcomes.

Introduction

Since most working women resume to the workforce within their initial year of postpartum, a concern rises as women are more likely to develop depressive symptoms during the first year of childbirth than during any other time of their life. 1 The growing participation of women in the labour force has forced employers to start looking after the psychological well-being of working mothers since mental health problems can be costly to employers in terms of higher absenteeism rates, lower productivity and profits and increased costs of medical treatment. Although postpartum issues by definition refer to mother-related issues after the birth of the baby up to 6 weeks (42 days), 2 maternal health conditions can occur beyond the time stipulated. Thus, some studies have recommended that the postpartum period should cover both the physical and mental recovery beyond the 6-week duration. 3 This is supported by the report by Woolhouse et al. 4 that poor physical health during the early postpartum period was associated with poorer mental health throughout the first 12 months of postpartum.

After childbirth, some women will undergo stages of rapid changes that affect their physical health, ranging from medical conditions, such as postpartum haemorrhage, uterine inversion, amniotic fluid embolism and eclampsia, to haemodynamic, genitourinary, metabolism and emotional problems after delivery up to 2—6 weeks of postpartum. 5 Restoration of the muscle tone, connective tissues and even the genitourinary system to the pre-pregnant state will take a longer time, thus making recovery from childbirth challenging. 5

The physical health problems experienced by some women during the first 6 weeks of postpartum may lead to episodes of depression 6 and vice versa, as depression may lead to or exacerbate the delay in recovery from physical health problems owing to certain factors, including delays in help-seeking, incompliance to treatment and poor behaviour towards health. 7 Thus, it is vital to recognise physical health problems earlier so that effective measures can be taken to address them and consequently improve the mental well-being of childbearing mothers. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the physical and mental health problems faced by women during their postpartum period — within the first 6 weeks and after 12 weeks of childbirth. The findings are expected to provide insights into the trend or background of the postpartum health of working mothers from Sarawak, the largest state of Malaysia with the most diverse socio-cultural background.

This prospective study was conducted among working mothers after childbirth in the Kuching division in Sarawak, Malaysia. Kuching is classified as the administrative division in Sarawak with the most populated area including 705,546 residents. 8 Working mothers are operationally defined as women who have a full-time job outside the home in addition to taking care of their family. In this study, working mothers who attended the Maternal and Child Health Clinic (MCHC), operated under the Ministry of Health Malaysia, were invited to participate.

The sample size was calculated using the PS software developed by Dupont and Plumme. 9 Based on the prevalence of postpartum depression of 3.5% in the study by Klainin and Arthur 10 and 14.3% in the study by Yusuff et al., 11 the minimum total sample size needed was 280 women, with an attrition rate of 30%.

Respondents were recruited using the proportional sampling method. All working mothers who attended the MCHC for postnatal follow-up for a minimum of 6 months, were on maternity leave and resumed their work after a given leave of absence by their employers were included. Mothers with severe childbirth outcomes such as severe postpartum haemorrhage, uterine rupture, hypertensive disorders requiring prolonged hospitalisation (>2 weeks) and admission to the intensive care unit, severe obstetric conditions and preexisting psychiatric illness diagnosed before pregnancy were excluded.

Initial recruitment was performed among the mothers eligible for participation in the study at the first 6 weeks after delivery in the respective clinics. Under the mothers’ consent, they were presented with a data collection instrument, which consisted of items on socio-demographic data; perinatal, prenatal and postpartum factors and employment characteristics.

For the mothers selected to participate in this study, they must sign a written commitment in the follow-up of the subsequent screening. The initial recruitment was performed among 288 working mothers from August to December 2017. In this process, the mothers were required to answer the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and a checklist of 28 specific postpartum symptoms. The subsequent follow-up involved 281 mothers, with a dropout rate of 2.43% owing to refusal towards participation.

Three sets of data instrument were used in this study. The first set consisted of items on sociodemographic data (i.e. age, ethnicity, marital status, parity and monthly family income), prenatal factors (i.e. chronic health problems, preconception health and mood disturbances), postpartum factors (i.e. delivery complications, caesarean delivery, infant girl, breastfeeding and elapsed time after childbirth) and employment characteristics (i.e. employment status, occupational sector classification, job satisfaction and supervisor support).

The second set of data instrument was the EPDS. The EPDS is a 10-item questionnaire designed specifically to measure postnatal depression, which has been extensively used among mothers after childbirth worldwide. 12 Each item is rated on a 4-point scale (0 to 3), with a total score ranging from 0 to 30. The Malay version of the instrument was adopted from Azidah et al. 13 According to the recommendation of Azidah et al., 13 the mothers who achieved a score of 12 or higher in the EPDS were categorised as having depressive symptoms.

The third set of data instrument was the 28-item postpartum symptom checklist, which was adopted from Gjerdingen et al. 14 and McGovern et al. 15 The checklist classifies symptoms based on six main categories, namely neurologic symptoms, gynaecologic and breast symptoms, cardiovascular and respiratory symptoms, skin and hair problems, gastrointestinal symptoms and general symptoms such as fatigue, fever and back or neck pain. Respondents are required to answer with either a ‘YES’ or ‘NO’ towards each symptom as a response to each item in the postpartum checklist.

A pre-test of the questionnaire was conducted among 30 respondents in one of the clinics under the sampling frame. This clinic was excluded from the main survey. The reliability testing showed a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.850, acceptable for an exploratory study as recommended by Garson. 16

The respondents were approached after their postnatal check-up or child immunisations. They were briefed regarding the purposes of the study and the questionnaires used. Ethical approval was obtained from the Medical Research and Ethics Committee of the Ministry of Health Malaysia (NMRR-17-743-35240IIR) and Medical Ethics Committee of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS/NC-21.02/03-02 Jld 2 [72]).

All data were entered and analysed using IBM SPSS version 21.0. A univariate analysis was used to answer the research questions, and P<0.05 was used as the cut-off value for significance.

Table 1 shows the socio-demographic characteristics and health profiles of the respondents. Of the 281 respondents, more than 40% were from the Sarawak indigenous group, had their highest education up to secondary school and were working for the government. The mean monthly household income was RM 4735.5 (SD 3957.78 or USD 1138). The respondents had a parity of 1 or 2. Only a small number of respondents reported to be smoking, had chronic health problems and had delivery complications. More than 95% breastfed their children.

Among the physical symptoms reported, fatigue (42.7%), back or neck pain (36.3%), breast discomfort (16.4%), dizziness (13.5%) and nipple irritation (11.0%) were among the most common symptoms experienced by the mothers during the first 6 weeks after childbirth. Subsequently, the physical symptoms gradually resolved over time, which contributed to a fewer number of cases reported from 12 to 27 weeks than during the first 6 weeks after delivery. Table 2 details the physical symptoms experienced by the working mothers after childbirth.

In the comparison of the physical symptom score between the first 6 weeks and after 12 weeks, a significant decrease was found in the physical symptom score of the working mothers from the first 6 weeks [mean (standard deviation {SD})=1.73 (1.96)] to after 12 weeks of childbirth [mean (SD)=0.16 (0.42)] (t [280]=28.10, P<0.0005; Table 3 ).

EPDS, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; b insufficient cell count for analysis.

In terms of the symptoms of postnatal depression, a significant decrease was found in the postnatal depression score among the working mothers from the first 6 weeks [mean (SD)=6.26 (4.26)] to after 12 weeks of childbirth [mean (SD)=1.35, (1.85)] [t (280)=28.10, P<0.0005 (two-tailed)]. The mean decrease in the postnatal depression score amounted to 4.904, with a confidence interval ranging from 4.56 to 5.25 ( Table 3 ).

In this prospective study of working mothers after delivery, the highest number of symptoms was recorded within the first 6 weeks after childbirth, with fatigue identified as the most common symptom, followed by back or neck pain. Overall, these findings are consistent with those of a previous study conducted at a different location, 17 in which the aforementioned symptoms were identified as the most common symptoms despite a notable decrease in the number of respondents with these symptoms. Meanwhile, most other symptoms were resolved in the second interview, which was conducted 12 weeks after delivery. Notably, these findings are common considering similar findings shown in other studies, which recorded similar common symptoms during the first few weeks after delivery among mothers. 4 Despite the decrease in the trend of fatigue, a substantial proportion of mothers still experienced this symptom after 12 weeks of delivery. In this study, fatigue was experienced by 42.7% of the mothers in the first 6 weeks after delivery. Although the trend of this symptom decreased, 9.3% still experienced fatigue at a later point after postpartum. These findings are generally in agreement with previous reports. 18

The fatigue and physical exhaustion experienced by the mothers after childbirth in the present study were attributed to several possible factors, specifically childbirth and changing roles. These factors were typically associated with disrupted sleep, as the mothers’ babies frequently woke up in the middle of the night, and the mothers were faced with difficulties in settling their babies and night-time feeding. Doering et al. 19 found that although the efficiency of maternal sleep was the lowest during the first few days after delivery, it improved as the baby’s sleep pattern shifted to nocturnal hours. This situation is a possible reason for the reduced symptoms of fatigue over time.

Herein, 9.3% of the mothers still experienced fatigue after 12 weeks of childbirth. This finding could be explained by a previous report that the melatonin of physically exhausted mothers is transmitted to the infant through breastmilk. This phenomenon would delay the development of mature sleep cycles, possibly prolonging sleep disruption in the postpartum period. 20 These findings indicate that the complaints regarding fatigue among the mothers in the second interview, which was conducted at least 3 months after postpartum, were attributed to prolonged sleep deprivation and the job commitment to be fulfilled. Most mothers returned to work during the second interview: 96.1% of the mothers returned to their job, while 3.9% were still on maternity leave.

In a previous study conducted in the Netherlands, 24.5% of mothers were found to experience fatigue at 12 weeks of postpartum, while 18.1% complained of fatigue at 52 weeks of postpartum. 21 In another study conducted on working mothers after childbirth in Minnesota, it was found that 43% of working mothers reported fatigue at 11 weeks of postpartum; this percentage increased to 64% of mothers at 5 weeks of postpartum. 3 However, the prevalence of fatigue in the present study is slightly lower than the prevalence reported in the two previous studies during the corresponding time frame. Therefore, it can be concluded that the variation in the prevalence of fatigue among working mothers after childbirth is influenced by other factors, including culture, the support obtained from their surroundings, educational level of their spouse and sleep problems. Nevertheless, a previous study reported that the prevalence of postpartum fatigue at 12 and 52 weeks was 24.5% and 18.1% respectively, was associated with the working environment of mothers. 21 In this case, intervention by the working environment of mothers is necessary, in which employers and colleagues could initiate some actions to alleviate the symptoms of postpartum fatigue.

During the first 6 weeks after delivery, 15.3% of the working mothers had scores of >12, indicating that they were at a possible risk of developing postnatal depression. Nevertheless, the prevalence of depressive symptoms is notably lower herein than in other studies. 22 , 23 Postnatal depression is one of the most common factors of maternal distress, making it a significant area of concern in public health. This type of depression affects not only the mother but also the child and her family. 24 Furthermore, there is an increase in the physical and emotional demands among women in the postnatal period, and the debility associated with depression may impair the capacity of women to take care of themselves, provide for their family and maintain productivity in their organisations. However, in the subsequent follow-up visits in the present study, the percentage of working mothers with scores of ≥12 was reduced to 0.4%. This low prevalence of postnatal depression may be attributed to the fact that most respondents eventually returned to their work during the second interview. It is possible that the working environment plays a protective role in reducing the risk of postnatal depression. Further exploration focusing on the working environment among mothers should be performed to gain deeper insights into the role of employment in improving the quality of life.

This study has a few limitations. As antenatal depression could be a predisposing risk factor of postnatal depression, depression should be ideally screened during the antenatal period among mothers to exclude those with signs of depression. However, there would be some inconsistency in using the same screening tool to screen antenatal depression, as the EPDS is typically used to assess the severity of depression during pregnancy and postpartum. Such concerns should be addressed in future studies. The postpartum period could be viewed as a transitional stage in mothers’ postnatal phase. Within the first 12 weeks after giving birth, physical symptoms lessen at varied rates, with the majority of them significantly or completely disappearing by the end of that time. It can be suggested that the postpartum periods for working women should be evaluated at two extremes. Since depressive symptoms might change over time, it is possible to suggest multiple somewhat different findings by evaluating the symptoms and severity of depression within the time interval. This information is crucial in gaining an understanding of the factors contributing to postnatal depression among mothers.

The prevalence of postnatal depression was higher during the first 6 weeks of postpartum than after 12 weeks of postpartum. Although physical symptoms are reduced over time, it would be a notable opportunity for health professionals to screen such symptoms early and initiate an early intervention.

As the majority of women in their childbearing age in Malaysia are working outside the home, screening and treatment of postpartum mental health problems are essential owing to the impacts on occupational outcomes that affect a company’s workforce and labour productivity. A supportive working environment helps to optimise loyalty, retention and trust among employees. A mandatory incorporation of screening of postnatal depression and physical symptoms into postnatal follow-up could benefit working mothers’ well-being and promote a more productive life between work and family.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Director General of the Ministry of Health Malaysia for the permission to conduct this study.

Author Contributions

ME, CWL and HH designed the study. ME acquired the data. ME, CWL and HH analysed and interpreted the data. ME and CWL drafted the manuscript. All authors critically revised the manuscript and have reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was obtained from the Medical Research and Ethics Committee of the Ministry of Health Malaysia (NMRR-17-743-35240IIR) and Medical Ethics Committee of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS/NC-21-02/03-02 Jld 2 [72]).

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest related to this article.

This study was not funded.

Data sharing statement

The datasets are not publicly available. Data are however available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

How does this paper make a difference in general practice?

This study provides useful insights for primary care providers into the physical and mental health of working women during their postpartum period.
The findings further confirmed that most women experienced fatigue, back or neck pain, breast discomfort, dizziness and nipple irritation during the first 6 weeks after childbirth. Nevertheless, such symptoms decreased after 6 weeks onwards.
As the majority of women in their childbearing age in Malaysia are working outside the home, screening and treatment of postpartum mental health problems are essential owing to the impacts on occupational outcomes.

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Dr. Kiers’s essay both shed light on the frustrating reality of the discrimination that mothers face in the world of academic research, and provided a shining beacon of hope to counteract it.

The false binary that women are presented and that so many people (including Dr. Kiers’s own child, she noted) assume is that we must decide: our research, our careers, our academic endeavors, or our children. One or the other.

Dr. Kiers has called this out; this is not actually a choice we have to make. Motherhood is not a detriment to our academic abilities and research contributions; it actually strengthens it in new and unexpected ways.

Dr. Kiers, in her refusal to choose between her research pursuits and her family, is helping to forge an exciting path forward. It is a path to a world where women can be celebrated, respected and supported with all that they are and all that they contribute, including their children.

That is the academic world I hope to enter into someday.

Megan Clancy Washington

Kudos to Dr. Toby Kiers! Her story is shared not only by fellow scientists, but by women at large. I admire her courage in bringing her 3-week-old son to work, and in pondering the advice of an older woman who discouraged her from being self-deprecating.

“What can feel like an inconvenience is often a blessing in disguise,” she writes. Amen to that! As far as detachment and vulnerability creating meaning? I now see vulnerability being valued and detachment being questioned in health care, via narrative prose and poetry by nurses and physicians.

I am a seasoned nurse. This article brought me back to the AIDS epidemic. In terms of science, we really had no idea what we were dealing with. I was on maternity leave and had come to know “brain fog” intimately. I received a call asking if I would open a new department for AIDS. After a day thinking about it, I accepted. My two boys went with me into the wilderness of men dying of a virus we knew little about.

My sons are now 40 and 50. The older one still recounts stories of things he learned and joy he felt at a party that those dying men held for us nurses on Mother’s Day. Vulnerability informing the work? You bet!

Pamela Mitchell Bend, Ore.

Since I am a woman who walked across the medical school graduation stage holding my toddler, while eight months pregnant with No. 2, I can certainly identify with Toby Kiers’s essay about managing a career as a scientist while parenting.

It was extremely trying for me to charge into residency with very small children at home. But I am blessed to have a wonderful husband who loved fathering, and was able to take a sabbatical for some of my residency.

As a result, our two daughters, now young adults, are very close to their father. I think that this is the real win in how things are evolving for women in the workplace. Partners get to join in on the nitty-gritty as well as the glorious moments of parenting.

I do believe I missed out on the sort of lovely parenting my mother gave me as a stay-at-home mom. But I was also able to show our daughters what commitment to an intellectual and humanistic goal looks like.

I certainly think medical residency programs are over the top in terms of workload and emotional toll; this needs to evolve. But I think enjoying the participation of both parents in the up-close-and-personal part of child-rearing makes all of our children stronger.

Susan Ferguson Berkeley, Calif.

Re “ Trump Embraces Lawlessness in the Name of a Higher Law ,” by Matthew Schmitz (Opinion guest essay, April 4):

Mythologizing Donald Trump — either Mr. Schmitz fancifully comparing him to outlaws like Robin Hood, Billy the Kid and Jesse James, who titillated people with their challenges to authority, or Christian evangelicals’ even more far-fetched casting of Mr. Trump as King Cyrus or even Jesus — fails because most of us see him for what he is, a narcissist with no positive agenda and no respect for the law.

If we must make comparisons, it’s to David Duke, the Klansman who ran for president, or Gov. George Wallace, standing in the schoolhouse door to block integration. The only people who saw them as rebels with a cause were themselves defending a lost cause, much like those who flock to MAGA now.

Steve Horwitz Moraga, Calif.

Re “ Inmate’s Death Highlights Failures in Mental Health ” (front page, May 6), about the troubled life and death of a prisoner, Markus Johnson:

As a social worker who has worked in the field of mental health for more than 50 years, I read with interest and sadness yet another article about a mentally ill individual who was not provided with adequate treatment and subsequently died in prison.

This article highlights the failure of deinstitutionalization. It demonstrates how our prisons have become the institutions replacing those that formerly housed the mentally ill. Not only are the mentally ill being ill served, but so too is the public, which is at risk of harm from those hallucinating on the streets.

Our shelter system is also not in a position to manage needed services and supervision. The last resort is a cell. I believe that providing long-term residential programs with highly supervised step-down programs would provide a solution to the tragedies we currently read about daily. Certainly the cost would be less than incarceration.

Let’s look to providing real help rather than punishment for our mentally ill population.

Helen Rubel Irvington, N.Y.

“ Offshore Oil Production Expands as Companies Cite Energy Needs ” (Business, May 10) lays out Big Oil’s plan for the Gulf of Mexico. Let’s be real: We’re in a global climate crisis. The last thing we need is for the fossil fuel industry to expand offshore drilling.

If climate change, rising ocean temperatures and the risk of horrific events like the Deepwater Horizon disaster weren’t enough reason to stop offshore oil expansion, we also know that this industry cannot be counted on to clean up its mess when the wells have run dry.

There is a huge backlog when it comes to plugging defunct or abandoned wells, removing old oil platforms and remediating the seafloor damaged by drilling operations. Oil and gas companies have already littered the Gulf of Mexico with more than 18,000 miles of disused pipeline and over 14,000 unplugged wells , which can leak chemicals like methane into the ocean.

It also comes with financial risks: If offshore oil and gas operators file for bankruptcy (as 37 have done since 2009 ), U.S. taxpayers could be forced to foot the bill for cleanup.

Enough is enough: We cannot afford more offshore drilling.

Andrew Hartsig Anchorage The writer is senior director, Arctic conservation, for Ocean Conservancy.

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Essay on "Problems of Working Women" Complete Essay for Class 10, Class
A working woman of today may belong to the middle, lower or higher echelons of society. Working women of middle or lower class have the work for economic reasons while those belonging to the higher class work to pass time. The woman who works for financial reasons has to face many problems. They have to work in an office or organization, full-time.
Essay on Working Mothers
Conclusion. Working mothers are the backbone of a progressive society. They not only contribute to their family's well-being and the economy, but also inspire the next generation to challenge societal norms and strive for equality. The journey of a working mother is challenging yet rewarding, filled with hurdles and triumphs.
(PDF) Challenges of working mothers: balancing motherhood and
Lack of social support increases the job stress, which in turn, affects the mental health of the employed working mother.5,6 It is also reported that professional working mothers either had to cease or conceal the breastfeeding practices when employed.7 However, there is paucity of studies in Indian population to explore the problems of working ...
Working Mothers: How Much Working, How Much Mothers, And Where Is The
Preschoolers experience a significant decline in time spent with their mothers when their mothers go to work and total time spent with the child has shown to decrease by as much as 2 hours per day. A trade off is found between time and money, as family income increases whereas mother's time with child decreases.
(PDF) Exploring the Challenges Faced by Working Mothers and the
also stated that working mothers' problems are finding appropriate child-care for their children while they work (Moilanen et al., 2016; Hein and Cassirer (2010). Therefore,
What research says about the kids of working moms
Most American moms work outside the home. Nearly 70 percent of women with children under age 18 were in the labor force in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In recent decades, as more mothers take paid positions, families, policymakers and scholars have wondered how the trend may impact children, especially during their early years.
Understanding and Overcoming Challenges Faced by Working Mothers: A
Mothers are less likely to be hired for certain types of jobs, are paid less for doing those jobs, are less likely to be promoted, and are more likely to experience unequal treatment that leads them to turnover (Jones et al. 2013).These issues need to be addressed given the fact 38 % of the workforce will at some point undergo this transition into motherhood (Williams et al. 2006).
Working Mothers' Experiences in an Intensive Mothering Culture: A
The population of working mothers has greatly increased over the past few decades, yet cultural norms and standards for women have not progressed at the same rate. Intensive mothering ideals set expectations for mothers that recruit them into inequitable parental partnerships and create challenges for their well-being, health, and relational ...
Challenges Working Mothers Face. A Discussion Exploring the ...
The aim of this research is to provide a discussion regarding working mothers, specifically, evaluating the challenges working mothers face concerning career progression. Furthermore, as previously discussed, the interviews followed a thematic approach, and a comparative analysis between western and non-western cultures was used.
Working Mothers, Their Contribution & Impact on The Decline of
More mothers are working full-time as serious income earners than ever before, many delaying marriage and having children in favor of securing a certain level of financial stability and independence. In the last fifteen years, however, many of these working mothers are expressing a perceived inability to balance their roles as parent and employee.
The Harried Life of the Working Mother
At-home moms and working moms also differ in their self-evaluations. When asked to rate the job they are doing as parents on a scale of 0 to 10 (with 10 being the highest), 43% of at-home moms give themselves either a 9 or a 10. Moms who work either full time or part time are harder on themselves — only 33% give themselves a 9 or 10.
Working Mom Struggles and Challenges, Problems of Working Women
Here are some real struggles faced by most moms who go to work. 18+ to Parent. 38.7K. 1. 1. A PR professional working in a multinational company and a mother to a three-year-old, Mansi has a lot on her plate. She sometimes feels like she's in a race that never seems to end. She leaves early after preparing the meals for the day and drops her ...
(PDF) An Exploratory Study of Challenges Faced by Working Mothers in
Childcare decisions of working mothers are highly affected by the support of family, and organization (McRae, 2003). Some authors investigated the causes of working mothers leaving the job and identified that a significant number of women quit their career because of their family responsibilities (Cabrera, 2007).
An Exploratory Study of Challenges Faced by Working Mothers in India
Consequently, all over the world, to look after their family, there is a rising trend of working mothers leaving their works (Vanderkam, 2005).As per the Social Development Foundation of Assocham (2015), 25 per cent of first-time Indian mothers quit jobs to raise children.The motherhood dilemma is the reflection of a societal norm, which suggests that the woman must sacrifice career ...
Common challenges faced by working mothers and ways to overcome ...
To be precise, here are some of the common challenges faced by the working mothers along with a few ways and means to overcome them. - Inability to maintain a work-life balance - For a mother ...
Workplace wellness programs for working mothers: A systematic review
The implementation of workplace wellness programs for working mothers showed positive effects on their health problems and health costs. These eight studies revealed that workplace wellness programs specifically designed for working mothers can lead to time efficiency by holding the programs in or near the workplace and implementing them during ...
Std. 10, English, Essay
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PDF Understanding and Overcoming Challenges Faced by Working Mothers: A
working mothers incur a ﬁve percent wage penalty per child (Anderson et al. 2003; Budig and England 2001; see Biernat et al. 2004 for a review). This gender gap in wages has been posited as primarily driven by the low salaries of working mothers, as the wage gap between mothers and women without children is signiﬁcantly
A Review of Effects of Working Mothers on Children's Development
The purpose of this study is to analyse the effects a working mother has. on the overall development of the child, which includes the aspects such as. physical growth, behavioural development ...
Postpartum health of working mothers: A prospective study
Introduction. Since most working women resume to the workforce within their initial year of postpartum, a concern rises as women are more likely to develop depressive symptoms during the first year of childbirth than during any other time of their life. 1 The growing participation of women in the labour force has forced employers to start looking after the psychological well-being of working ...
Economies
This study builds on the debate on whether mothers' employment in the early life of children bring positive or negative impact to children in later life. This is based on the fact that employment often result in reduced family time in which mother may not be able to take care of their children fully. This study estimated the effects of mothers' employment status on children's education ...
Opinion
Re " An Act of Defiance Can Improve Things for Working Moms ," by Toby Kiers (Opinion guest essay, May 4): I am a woman nearing the completion of my B.A. in philosophy, and I have the absurd ...
Single Mothers' Perspectives on the Combination of Motherhood and Work
This study aims to define the perspectives taken by single mothers when combining work and motherhood in a stressful work-life constellation. One of the challenges for single mothers after divorce is to find a work-life balance in their single-parent family system. Regarding work-life balance, we take a General Strain Perspective, describing the work-life conflict as a combination of ...
The problems of working mother english essay
The problems of working mother english essay || english essayHelloThis video is about essay on the problems of working mother.#the_problems_of_working_mother...