The WSJ reports on a new study that found that the number of women who identify as a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) has gone up from 23% in 1999 to 29% in 2012. Most of the SAHMs were married. Many were immigrants. And most of the newer SAHM were home, because of the economy. They didn’t have great work opportunities. The number of college-educated SAHMs has stayed constant at 20-21%.
I have problems with studies that look at the work habits of parents. The duality between working parent and SAHM is silly. Lots of parents fall somewhere in the grey area between those two categories.
I suppose I’m one of those 20% of college educated SAHMs. Though looking at my schedule today, I don’t feel like I fit the mold. I have a packed schedule until 8 tonight, which includes freelance writing and the usual special ed nonsense. Gotta figure out the summer camp situation.
My advice to women, who are mostly at home or have a flexible schedule, is to make a morning schedule with goals. Otherwise the day flies by. Your article is unfinished, your laundry is stinking in the corner, you spent an hour reading online gossip websites, and your bathroom is half painted. Not that my life is like that at all. Nope.
Meanwhile, Thinking Progress takes this research to another level. They concentrate on the poverty of SAHMs without a college degree.
The growing numbers of single stay-at-home mothers struggle even more. More than 70 percent live below the poverty level, or less than $20,000 for a family of three, compared to just a quarter of single working mothers. One in five receives welfare, compared to 4 percent of single working mothers. And less than half of these mothers say that they are home to take care of their families, while 14 percent can’t find work, more than a quarter are disabled, and 13 percent are in school. This represents a significant change from 1970, when more than three-quarters said they were at home to care for their families.
Apt. 11d 
From Think Progress:
“The growing numbers of single stay-at-home mothers struggle even more. More than 70 percent live below the poverty level, or less than $20,000 for a family of three, compared to just a quarter of single working mothers. One in five receives welfare, compared to 4 percent of single working mothers. And less than half of these mothers say that they are home to take care of their families, while 14 percent can’t find work, more than a quarter are disabled, and 13 percent are in school. This represents a significant change from 1970, when more than three-quarters said they were at home to care for their families.”
In other words, they are unemployed and disabled mothers, rather than SAHMs. (SAHM generally implies an actual vocation.)
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Half of them are at home to take care of their families.
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I’m in the 20% and agree that you need to schedule a large chunk of your day or nothing gets done. I schedule exercise, laundry, groceries, cooking, everything is scheduled because 3pm comes along very very quickly. In my circle there are 2 trends. 1. Moms of elementary kids leaving the workforce from big jobs because their kids need them at home now. 2. Moms of elementary kids going back to P/T work from home consulting. All of my friends are College Educated/Masters.
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“My advice to
women,people who are mostly at home or have a flexible schedule, is to make a morning schedule with goals.”Fixt.
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