About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 Who are the Working Mothers [1] (1970)

handle is hein.tera/wrkngmthrs0001 and id is 1 raw text is: The American woman, as part of a changing world, not only performs her basic role within the fam- ily unit but also assumes other obligations that are necessitated by the times in which she lives and by a sense of responsibility to the community as well as to her family. Today's woman is faced with new problems and new challenges. For many women, including those who have children, new life patterns include paid employment, although such work may be intermittent or on a part-time basis. Among the 29.9 million women who were working or seeking work in March 1969 were 11.6 million mothers with children under 18 years of age. About 7.4 million of these working mothers had children 6 to 17 years of age only (none under 6), 2.1 million had children 3 to.5 years of age (none under 3), and another 2.1 million had children under 3 years of age. Since the period immediately preceding World War II, the number of women workers has more than doubled, but the number of working mothers has increased almost eightfold. About 4 out of 10 mothers were in the labor force in March 1969 as compared with less than I out of 10 in 1940. The growing movement of women into paid employment, with its implications for family life and society, has focused a great deal of attention on the circumstances of women's working, particularly if there are young children in the family. Why do mothers of young children work? For the great majority of working women with young chil- dren, economic need is the most compelling reason. This need, in large measure, is determined by the husband's earnings and the regularity of his employment. The higher his earnings, and the greater the security afforded by his job, the less likely the wife is to work. In homes left fatherless by death, di- vorce, or separation, the compulsion on a mother to seek work is obviously great. Her earnings are not supplementary; they are basic to the maintenance of her family. In this most affluent of nations, 32 per- cent of all families headed by a woman lived in poverty in 1968; many other such families had incomes barely above the poverty line. In the absence of financial necessity, the decision of an individual mother to work outside the home is influenced by such factors as the jobs in the community available to one with her education, training, or skills; the availability of adequate child care arrangements; and the hours she would be re- quired to be on the job. Mothers with young children have a strong preference for part-time or part-year jobs. As background material for those engaged in studies or discussions pertaining to working mothers, the Women's Bureau has provided, through the questions and answers that follow, information on the status of working mothers and on the factors that motivate them to seek paid employment.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most