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Russell Sage Foundation
Over the last forty years, the number of American households with a stay-at-home parent has dwindled as women have increasingly joined the paid workforce and more women raise children alone.
Using time diary data from surveys of American parents over the last four decades, Changing Rhythms of American Family Life finds that "despite increased workloads outside of the home mothers today spend at least as much time interacting with their children as mothers did decades ago" and perhaps even more.
Rather, mothers have made time for both work and family by sacrificing time spent doing housework and by increased multitasking. Changing Rhythms of American Family Life finds that the total workload (in and out of the home) for employed parents is high for both sexes, with employed mothers averaging five hours more per week than employed fathers and almost nineteen hours more per week than homemaker mothers.
Overall, it appears that Americans have adapted to changing circumstances to ensure that they preserve their family time and provide adequately for their children.
Though the iconic image of the American mother has changed from a docile homemaker to a frenzied, sleepless working mom, this important new volume demonstrates that the time mothers spend with their families has remained steady throughout the decades.
Suzanne M. Bianchi is professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Posted on October 17, 2006 11:57 AM
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