Discussion of Whether Working Mothers Hinder The Development of Their Children

Introduction

Between 1980-2008 female workforce cooperation has raised from 50.2% to 51.8% and on the other side male participation rate has decreased from 82% to 77.7%. So recently, many women take high salary working positions therefore, it became a trend among mothers but there is a controversial issue about whether this trend has an effect on kids development or not. Especially when they’re still youngsters. However myriad of single parents are in need for employment in order to raise their enfants. Opposers believe that for a mother to work could result in some benefits for her children as they maybe be more responsible and many other good characteristics.This issue will be addressed from different global perspectives, countries that will be in consideration United states, France & Germany. This research will include national perspective that will focus on Egypt as it is the writer’s mother country.in addition, it will also include local perspective that will focus on relatives, family members & friends.

Global perspectives

France

Fully support is offered for working mothers in France as they believe that she could balance between being good in her career and raising healthy children. Each & Every working mother in frence is offered with a sixteen weeks paid maternity leave for the first two children, in addition to 26 weeks guaranteed for the third child & more. Its different when a French mom gives birth for a set of twins, in this case she receives 34 weeks. And the support doesn’t stop here, an “early childhood” is supplied by the government to the French moms that are having a new baby to support in coverage of enfants needs. Not only this but also mothers who work in France are given money at the last month of pregnancy plus the first two month of being a mother. So consequently after mentioning all types of support being provided for working mothers who live in France, they are able to continue working after giving birth for her children without any stress because she is offered with all the help she needs in order to be available for her families & kids around the clock. To conclude, France as a country is for the concept of working mothers as they believe it wouldn’t hinder the development of the enfants. French people support the claim as they believe children will take their mothers as role model and be proud of her which will enhance their development.

Germany

Germany is the least country you can find in both parents working full-time after the mother gives birth to the first child. Referring to statistics mothers who still work full-time jobs while having babies are less than one in ten. Therefore, german youngsters are less likely to go to any nursery or childcare. In addition, habitually kindergardens in Germany close early of the afternoon so it is considered to be a reason that prevents any mother from working. Also government in Germany does not offer any help or support for females who want to be pregnant. Another point to put in consideration is that German mothers always feel blameworthy when any other person looks after their children. They believe that working while having a baby can affect their development. In Germany a mother who works and leave her enfant is called “raven mother” which means that she doesn’t care about her children. It can led sometimes to job discrimination. So majority of women who get babies end up not working and not completing her career because they affirm that work will hinder child progression as they need all her time and energy. Moreoever, if these women decided to work she will be stressed all the time in order to rush before three o’clock to grab her enfants and due to myriad of other aspects….to conclude, german people are against working mother as they think bringing someone to look after their children will destroy the bond between mom & kids because it will affect them psychologically so they feel ashame for leaving behind and go to work.

United States

In united states, for a mom to work is totally legal however, Americans do not prefer for a mother to work full-time as she can have some free time for her children and satisfy their needs, Including the pew research in united states in consideration, mothers being unemployed is the point of view of one-third of americans and 22% of full-time working mothers. On the other hand, 42% of all americans believe that mothers who work part-time jobs but not full time employment would be the best situation for their enfants. So americans point of view about this issue is that a mother can work but still pay attention with her youngsters not only her career because from age 1 to 3 they need her time a lot. To evaluate, in united states they are for working mother but not full-time jobs only part-time. There is no specific evidence whether it hinders performance or not; however, it appears that perks of working for women and their families outweigh drawbacks in general.

National perspective

In the early times, Egypt as a country was against the working mother concept but lately all of this has changed due to increased responsibilities over the society which forced the majority of mothers to work which also led to some pros and on the other hand some cons.

The participation of women in the workplace continues to increase significantly during the past two decades, and the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics revealed in 2015 that the rate of women's participation amounted to 22.9% of the total labor force.

One of the cons of working mothers is the increasing of burdens placed on the woman as any mother in Egypt sometimes faces difficulty in balancing between work and family duties, it’s not easy at all for any mother to leave behind myriad of responsibilities while spending 7 hours or more outside home at work, the most significant responsibility is raising a newborn child, it is difficult to find someone to sit with, or have to put him in a nursery during her working time, and this reduces the level of relationship between the child and his mother, and weakens the level of interaction between them.

On the other side, there is many perks that working mother’s children can benefit from like understanding their responsibilities and manage to do all their tasks without being dependent on others, thus become smart and active enough. In addition to learning manners of helping other and helping their mom. To add, very important point is that mothers who work are able to help their spouse financially which will result in offering their kids much more facilities that will help them. Therefore, in Egypt perks of working as a mother outweigh the disadvantages.

As mentioned Safia Zaki, Senior Specialist of the Supreme Council of Culture, that time management and prioritization are the key for a successful mother's work.

Also explains that she does not feel guilty about her two daughters, Maryam and Iris, because she organized her time between her home and her work, whether when her husband was still alive or after his death ten years ago, as she played the role of mother and father together (Gamal, 2016).

Local perspective

I have conducted a survey for 12 of my colleges as children of working mothers & to 10 mothers of my family and my teachers to know their point of view as working mothers as a primary resource due to limitation of secondary resoures locally about this issue. I decided to ask the children whether their mothers work or not and if yes whether this affect them or not. On the other hand, I asked mothers about whether they work or not and whether they believe that their work affect their children development or not with mentioning reasons and, I asked them if there is any personal experience to be added. I chose to ask mother because they surely has experiences that can be useful for my issue and maybe some of them tried before to quit jobs in order to take care of their enfants, in addition asking the children themselves is essential as they are the people who are directly affected. also I thought those questions would be very useful because will let us know whether the mother and their children have the same point of view or not based on experience. Consequently we can conclude from their answers whether for a mother to work hinders children development or not.

Putting my survey into consideration, 41.6% of the children are with the concept of working mothers as the believe that the mother can manage her time by choosing a job which fits her kid’s schedule as its important for her to work to be always motivated in addition, one of the children that have been asked quoted “Im influenced by my mom as her work and career are priority in her life”. On the other hand, 58.3% of the children that answered are totally against the idea because they mentioned that their working mothers spend less time with them due to work issues & meetings which weakens their relationships so this lead to many misunderstandings and also that work puts stress on their mothers which avoid her from listening to her children’s problems in school.

Furthermore, according to the survey just 30% of the mother who are against the concept of working after giving birth to children. One of the reasons they mentioned in the survey is if the mother is not beside her children their psychological development will be negatively affected specially in the early years.

Another mom who was against working mentioned her own experience she believe that when she quitted her job life became so different with her son as before she wasn’t able to spend any quality time with him or even don’t have time to prepare for him food due to thinking of all her work issues. On the contrary, 70% of the mother that have been asked mentioned that they work and has 1-2 kids and they can manage between their job and their children because they totally believe that time management is the clue. They believe that it is according type, nature & timing of the job as some mothers have the facilities to handle and monitor kids however, even mothers who works full time think that it has benefits for children, mothers who work becomes more open to extensive experiences that can help in communication with them. Also they all mentioned that when their kids see that mom can manage between home & work they love to be independent taking their moms as role models which raise strong personalities.

To conclude, higher percentage of children who wants their mothers not to work and pay attention with them but unfortunately vast majority of mothers thinks that their work doesn’t hinder children’s development and believe that it is not by the volume of time but by the value of quality time spent.

Personal perspective

The writer’s point of view is that working mothers do hinder a child’s development at a young age. Children need their parents’ full attention, care and comfort especially at ages 1 to10 years so it is essential for the mother to provide love and care that’s crucial for healthy development at young age as it helps to develop sort of bond and relationship. Also the attention required from any mother usually fades by time therefore after conducting this rsearch the writer has been affected by the point of view of that after building the character and developing good relationship, a mother’s job wouldn’t be harmful because at older age it can be beneficial for them in terms of independence and responsibility.

Limitations

The writer believes that mentioning the effect of the spouse’s support to kids and their healthy development would have given credibility to the research because if the working mother has a supportive & helpful husband it will make a large difference in raising children but unfortunetly I diidnt include it due to limitation of sources about the link between spouse support and development of kids.

Problems & courses of action

As Germany don’t believe in working mother because they think it would hinder their children’s development. The writer thought of raising awareness campaigns to let German people aware of how important for a women to work which affects her character moreover, it would be better if the government offers some support for women who are willing to continue work after having children for example by giving them the opportunity to work from home or at least limited hours outside in order to be available for her kids during their early development.