Additionally, she may be locked into economic dependance on her former husband because the need to care for the children prevents her from improving herself with an eye to occupational training. Researchers at the University of Illinois conducted a six year study on the productivity of women college graduates. Women lower their personal expectations primarily because society tells them their main job is having children, while men are conditioned to have both family and career. A major pool of talent is eliminated when women see themselves as less valuable than their male counterpart. Mothers who share joint custody with fathers enjoy greater personal freedom because they no longer bear the entire obligation of child care.
Child care is less of a problem when parenting is equitably divided between both parents.
Joint legal and physical custody helps both father and mother reduce the sense of loss, personal failure, and disruption of the adult parent role after divorce. Joint custody provides positive emotions which provide increased self-esteem and allows mutual success for both parents involved in parenting. The attitudes of society play a large part when custody decisions are being made. For example, a mother may know that the father deserves an equal role in child rearing, but fears that peers will see her as an unfit mother if she chooses not to fight for sole custody. It was shattering to think that every divorced woman I knew automatically got custody and I might not.