Mothers no longer want to commit to full-time employment, a study has found.
The What women want and how they can get it report, published on Friday by the Centre for Policy Studies, called on the government to help businesses create more part-time working opportunities by reducing the volume and complexity of employment regulations.
The report, which surveyed 4,690 men and women, found that only 12% of mothers wanted to work full-time and 31% did not want to work at all.
A further 79% of women in part-time employment do not want to move into full-time work.
The report said: “Real women do not want to commit full time to a job. Real women do not see that as the route to self-realisation.
“They recognise that there is far more to life than a healthy profit or a great deal. Material woman, who apes material man, is over.”
Author of the report, Cristina Odone, added: “Instead of finding satisfaction in full-time work, most women realise themselves in their other roles as carers, partners, community members and above all mothers.”
Currently two-thirds of businesses employ part-time workers.
The report said: “It should be easier, not more difficult, for businesses to employ part-time workers.
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“The volume and complexity of employment regulations are not likely to attract more businesses to take on more employees of any kind. The government should act quickly to cut these regulations and their accompanying paperwork.”
The poll also revealed that 57% of mothers in Britain with children aged under five are in paid work, but only 2% of women and 4% of men thought that mothers in this situation should work full-time.
