Fully half of American women with children under 18 now work full time, and the biggest challenge they face, in their own words, is dealing with time pressures connected with being a mother as well as a worker and a wife. With trying to juggle home and work, no wonder American women believe that the job of raising children these days is harder than it was a generation ago. Most women say today's mothers are also doing a worse job than their own mothers did. On a personal level, mothers are mostly satisfied with the job they are doing raising their children, though only one third are very satisfied. Clearly women are in conflict over their roles, and they believe their children are suffering as a result.
Many women question the circumstances under which many children are being raised today.
Only 29 percent think that when both parents work full time they can often do a good job of child raising. The same small proportion say that most single mothers can do a good job. Tellingly, only 41 percent of mothers who work full time are confident that such situations are good for children. Women, whether or not they work, believe the more traditional setting, in which the father works full time and the mother stays home, is best for raising children. Twice as many women say the increased number of mothers entering the workplace is bad, rather than good, for society.