Working moms, say goodbye to your guilt
In a society where gender norms and conventions are being heavily challenged on a historically unparalleled scale, it is unsurprising to see men’s and women’s socially assumed positions being subverted. The delineation between such norms is becoming arbitrary, at best.
And why shouldn’t it? This is the twenty-first century—in lieu of the ray guns and hover boots the seventies promised, the least we can enjoy is some semblance of growing equality. In the spirit of progress, however, it is time to say goodbye to the guilt and blame associated with being a working mother in favor of welcoming such a prestigious accomplishment.
Quartz online magazine recently posted an interesting statistic: the daughters of working mothers are a whopping 4.5% more likely to achieve employment than the daughters of stay-at-home moms. Similarly, a “statistically significant effect” on the sons of employed mothers, wherein they are more likely to be open to domestic work, was discovered. Finally, empirical proof that hard work literally does pay! Despite archaic traditions, such as “man of the house” and “wifely duties”, there is no refuting a hard correlation between hard work and hard-working offspring.
The link between mothers’ working and sons’ susceptibility to domestic work is another intriguing component of the study
It should come as no shock to us that giving equal validity to both genders’ work will facilitate open-mindedness, compassion, and general respect; however, in a culture that perpetuates the image of the domestic wife and the working man, it is incredibly refreshing to see these roles swapped and leveled.
Though many are likely surprised by this study, we really shouldn’t be. A parent, regardless of social status, is always a role model to a child; should that child see said parent working and succeeding, it is logical that there will be a higher chance that they will seek work of a similar ilk. Again, if that same child sees a productive member of society contributing both to the family and to the community, he or she will have a much easier time empathizing with the value of hard work and equal validity of roles.
