Mothers dissatisfied as working week lengthens

Women
with children are spending more time at work than they did a decade ago and are
increasingly unhappy with the length of their working day.

A
new survey of 1,100 women across a broad range of occupations reveals that only
29 per cent are "completely satisfied"  with their working hours, compared to 51 per cent in 1992.

Mothers
with a dependant child aged between 12 and 15 now work around five hours a week
more than in the early 1990s.

The
research reveals that although the increase in hours is financially
motivated,  women also feel slightly
less pressured to work, with 49 per cent feeling they are expected to earn,
compared to 51 per cent in 1992.

Michael
White, co-director of the study, said, "At present, we have at best half
the ingredients for women with children to develop a satisfactory working life.
The other half must include shorter hours for male partners so that they can do
more to help at home, and greater equality in pay so that women do not need to
work as long to balance the household budget."

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Name

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

The
research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, also shows that
IT has increased women’s workloads, with those with access to computers working
on average 3.4 hours a week more than those who do not.

By
Ross Wigham