Running head: CAREER ISSUES FOR WORKING MOTHERS 1

Career Issues for Working Mothers: A Review of the Literature

Juliana Ardizzone, Mary Nayden, and Renee Shand-Lubbers

Montclair State University

Career Issues for Working Mothers: A Review of the Literature

Working mothers face many challenges in their careers. This paper will highlight current

research on working mothers including work life balance issues, environmental obstacles and

sociopolitical challenges, and career needs.

Description of Population

Definition of Working Mothers

This paper defines working mothers as women who care for children in the home and

actively participate in the labor force. Forcey (1994) stated that mothering is a socially

constructed term that reflects a set of activities and relationships involved in nurturing and

caring for people (p. 357). Although all working parents including men in dual- income

families face challenges related to career and family life, this paper will focus on the needs of

working mothers as they experience unique stressors and employment barriers due to

environmental and sociopolitical factors related to gender (Haslam, Patrick, & Kirby, 2015;

Medina & Magnuson, 2009).

Statistics

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (n.d.) reported that in 2015 there were 73,510,000 civilian

noninstitutional women sixteen years or older working, which made up 46.7 percent of the

overall civilian noninstitutional workforce. Of these, 25,498,000 had a child under eighteen

years old, or 34.7 percent of the female workforce. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (n.d.) also

reported that in 2015 the labor force participation rate was 61.4 percent for women whose

youngest child was under three years old, 68.0 percent for women whose youngest child was

three to five years old, and 74.4 percent for women whose youngest child was six to seventeen

years old. According to these statistics, a large percentage of women are working mothers
CAREER ISSUES FOR WORKING MOTHERS 3

making them a significant population with career needs requiring targeted counseling

interventions.

Description of Career Needs

Working mothers face unique career challenges. These challenges include work life

balance issues and environmental obstacles and sociopolitical obstacles. Although there was

variation among occupations, Landivar (2014) found that mothers are 2.4 times more likely than

nonmothers to leave the work force and are more likely to work less hours than nonmothers. In

addition, Correll, Benard, and Paik (2007) showed that mothers have a more difficult time

getting hired. Given these findings, it is important to address the career needs of working

mothers so that they may continue to work at the level they desire.

Work Life Balance Issues

Balancing work with family responsibilities can be regarded as the one of the biggest

challenges women continue to encounter (Irem, Rehman, & Rehman, 2016; Sudha &

Karthikeyan, 2014; Hermann, Ziomek-Daigle, & Dockery, 2014). Women grapple with how to

prioritize these two equally important aspects of their lives. They struggle with the stereotypes

that equate having a family with lack of commitment to ones career and job, and women who

place priority on their careers as bad mothers (Irem et al., 2016). Sudha and Karthikeyan (2014)

stated that work life balance relates to the competence to schedule the hours of an individuals

professional and personal life so as to lead a healthy and peaceful life (p.798). It emphasizes

the values, attitudes, and beliefs of women regarding how they organize and manage their work

and personal lives (Sudha & Karthikeyan, 2014). The following variables influence womens

experiences with work life balance: work family conflict, role strain, lack of support, and child

care.
CAREER ISSUES FOR WORKING MOTHERS 4

Work family conflict.

Men and women experience the demands of work and family life differently

(Wattis, Standing, & Yerkes, 2013; Lewis, Gambles, & Rapoport, 2007). Women are usually the

ones that assume greater responsibility for domestic work and child rearing, while being

employed (Wattis et al., 2013). Researchers have found that working mothers effective

balancing of their dual roles is necessary to be able to tend to their childrens needs and to spend

quality time with them and the family unit (McLellan & Uys, 2009; Alstveit, Severinsson, &

Karlsen, 2011). In McLellan and Uyss study (2009), for most of the participants who were self-

employed mothers, family responsibilities took priority over work. Furthermore, when work had

to take preference over the family, they felt unsuccessful as mothers and that they were not in

control. They felt that their prioritizing and planning skills were not effective (McLellan & Uys,

2009). Therefore, considerable conflict between family and work may affect an individuals

psychological wellbeing.

Role strain.

Transitioning back into the world of work after having a child can be a particularly

stressful time for women (Spiteri & Xuereb, 2012; Alstveit et al., 2011). They are adjusting to

their new roles as mothers, maintaining their roles as spouses or partners, and going back to their

roles as workers. Having a positive transition experience from maternity leave to returning to

work was attributed with new mothers feeling good about managing family life, being able retain

ones individuality, and working outside the home (Spiteri & Xuereb, 2012). Women feel that

they need to spend time and form relationships with their children and therefore may experience

a sense of guilt and inadequacy if they cannot spend quality time with their children (McLellan
CAREER ISSUES FOR WORKING MOTHERS 5

& Uys, 2009; Alstveit et al., 2011; Haslam et al., 2015). Moreover, women tend to have

difficulty finding time for themselves outside of childcare and paid work, and tend to focus on

their needs last (Wattis et al., 2013).

Need for support.

Furthermore, organization and planning are essential to ensure that working mothers can

fulfill all their responsibilities (McLellan & Uys, 2009). Women tend to rely on immediate

family members and friends for help in activities related to childcare, household chores, and

emotional support (Spiteri & Xuereb, 2012). Hermann et al. (2014) found that it was important

for working women to have a supportive partner who actively helps them maintain a balance

between work and life, hire outside help like housekeepers and babysitters, and seek additional

support from womens and community groups and organizations.

Environmental Obstacles and Sociopolitical Challenges

In addition to work life balance issues, many women face challenges that are

environmental and sociopolitical in nature. These challenges are widespread and include issues

such as career reentry, opportunity equality, and the glass ceiling. In addition, there are issues

with career advancement, discrimination and harassment, and self-efficacy.

Career reentry.

Mothers show a high rate of labor force exit and have difficulty gaining employment, so

opting into a career is often difficult (Correll et al., 2007). One reason opting in can be so

difficult for mothers is because of a lack of adequate parental leave time in many fields

(Landivar, 2014). For many women, particularly those in what is considered elite occupations,

it can be challenging to reduce schedules in order to manage a healthy work-family balance

(Landivar, 2014). Due to this, many women opt out, or are pushed out, of the labor force. It is
CAREER ISSUES FOR WORKING MOTHERS 6

important to note that most research on opting in or out is focused on affluent, white women

(Stone, 2007; Blair-Loy, 2003). Other women may not have the same opportunity to opt out of a

career when they become a mother (Landivar, 2014).

Equality of opportunities.

When polled on career satisfaction, many women reported limitations on influence and

opportunity in the workplace greatly affected satisfaction (Whitmarsh, Brown, Cooper, Hawkins-

Rodgers, & Wentworth, 2007). While women make up nearly half of the US labor force, only a

small percentage of these women are employed in top positions. Whitmarsh et al. (2007) noted

that many career development concepts tend to reflect male worldviews. This includes

separation of work and family roles in peoples lives; linear progressive and national nature of

career development process; and the structure of opportunity (Whitmarsh et. al., 2007, p. 225).

Whitmarsh et al. (2007) also reported that women believe todays society may be more receptive

of combining career and family than in the past, but this comes with a negative counterbalance.

While there are increased promotional and leadership opportunities, these are tainted by glass

ceilings and mommy tracks (Whitmarsh et. al., 2007).

Career advancement.

Opportunity equality is not the only obstacle that women face when it comes to career

advancement. Many mothers will turn down advancement opportunities that include aspects

such as business travel or longer hours in order to provide stability for their household (Haslam

et al., 2015). Some studies have reported that women reduce their working hours, change roles,

and are provided with fewer opportunities for advancement upon becoming mothers (Alstveit et

al., 2011; Bianchi, 2000; Houston & Marks, 2003). These changes have been reported as made
CAREER ISSUES FOR WORKING MOTHERS 7

by both the mother herself as well as the employer, depending upon the situation (Alstveit et al.,

2011).

Glass ceiling.

The glass ceiling is a barrier to advancement in a profession in an unofficial capacity

that affects women in the workplace (Whitmarsh et al., 2007). Whitmarsh et al. (2007) found

that women are more often in nontenure-track positions, were tenured and promoted more

slowly, and were paid less than male colleagues (p. 226). While much progress has been made

for women in the workforce, in 2002, the gap in salary between men and women was larger than

it was in the early 1970s (Hermann et al., 2012). Motherhood accounted for a large part of that

gap (Williams & Segal, 2003). What researchers called the maternal wall was more

detrimental to female career advancement than the glass ceiling (Hermann et al., 2012).

Gender discrimination and harassment.

In Spiteri and Xuerebs study (2012), almost all of the women who participated spoke of

a lack of support from managers in the workplace. Whether this was a lack of support in relation

to job responsibilities or flexibility regarding home responsibilities, the result was the same: the

women felt unsupported (Spiteri & Xuereb, 2012). For some mothers, flexible working, or

having control over ones own schedule, is the best situation in order to maintain a work-family

balance. However, flexible work jobs have been linked to discrimination, low pay, and reduced

opportunity for promotion (Radvliffe & Cassell, 2015).

Specifically, in academia, women have reported experiencing discrimination twice as

often as men (Hurtado, Eagan, Pryor, Whang, & Tran, 2012). It has repeatedly been reported

that there is a different standard for men and women with children (Hermann et al., 2012;

Cabrera, 2007; Correll et al., 2007). For example, in Hermann et al.s study (2012), a woman
CAREER ISSUES FOR WORKING MOTHERS 8

shared that a male counterpart was praised for bringing his child to the office, whereas a woman

would be criticized for the same action (p. 115). Another concern that was shared in this panel

was an uneasiness about being pregnant when not tenured (Hermann et al., 2012).

Self-efficacy

Jiuntun (1994) found that in a sample of undergraduate women those who listened to

audiotaped feminist career counseling sessions had greater career self-efficacy beliefs than those

who listened to developmental career approaches. Research also shows that a concern about

parental self-efficacy can be distracting to working mothers from being effective both at home

and at work (Okimoto & Heilman, 2012). Women in gender neutral careers have been found to

be better able to conceptualize and execute plans for careers outside of the typical female

careers. This may be a result of essential support from family and educators. However, women

in female-dominated careers have not reported the ability to execute plans for a gender-neutral

career, even if this is something that is attractive to them (Whitmarsh et. al., 2007).

Conclusion

Working mothers face unique challenges as they balance the needs of family and career.

Working mothers may struggle to meet the competing demands of raising children and achieving

career goals resulting in negative consequences such as work-family conflict, increased stress,

guilt, and decreased job performance (Haslam et al., 2015). This paper addressed current

research in career counseling and identified the issues and needs of working mothers.
CAREER ISSUES FOR WORKING MOTHERS 9

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