Despite this belief in the role of women and drive for change from Citizen I moms, a tension arises in relation to the complexity of daily
life at home and the pressures experienced by working moms.
Moms want to be good mothers but they also want to succeed in a personal capacity and in the workplace.
“My dream is to be an amazing mother and achieve other personal goals too”.
Many also want to be good employees and members of the workforce. But many
working moms do not feel empowered from a professional point of view. While there is no new news here, it highlights the conflicted reality of an optimistic mom alongside a distressed working woman.
It is clear that the number of hours moms work is having an impact. The more hours they work, the more stressed they are. Moms working
full-time are the most distressed while those working part-time are twice as likely to be happy with their overall set-up.
Worryingly it is not only employer policy that is frustrating working moms with almost half of working mothers reporting that they are often made feel guilty by colleagues for the flexibility needed. This conflicted reality manifests in 3,000* moms leaving the work force annually. Leaving the workforce entirely is no panacea either with 23% of moms who do not work outside of the home reporting they would like to be in a position to afford more childcare in order to make life easier.
