Study: Career takes 75% of mothers away from home

A new study has revealed that three quarters of mothers feel work pressure takes them away from their children and home.

A resounding 75% of participants feel their mother’s generation were afforded more time to bring up their children as the pressure of work and a career takes mums away from the home.

However, 62% of participating mums agreed that labour-saving devices free up their time when at home so they can spend more quality time with their children compared to previous generations.

This is according to the findings of extensive new research from Procter & Gamble (P&G) Ireland exploring motherhood from the 1930s to the present day.

'The Changing Face of Motherhood' report reveals that 40% of Irish mums feel they have less than an hour per day to themselves.

Up to 47% agreed there is a greater pressure to provide children with activities and constant supervision which puts further pressure on time, and they also agreed children were afforded more freedom in previous generations.

The report said that 80% of mums surveyed singled out their partners as their greatest source of support in bringing up their children, while 56% said that as husbands now take a greater role in maintaining the home, they are allowed significantly more quality time with their children than would have been possible for their mother’s generation.

The report was commissioned by P&G in conjunction with UCD Professor of Sociology, Dr. Betty Hilliard, to explore the changing role of Irish mums across different generations.

It explores the attitudes of mums to raising children, their perceptions of how they are valued by society and contains a factual examination of how mums’ lives have changed with everything from product innovations and time-saving devices in the home to increasing paid employment.