Student opinion: Career vs. family – Should mothers work or raise children?

The number of women pursuing careers and entering the workforce has been gradually increasing in the past few decades. Should women be working if they have a family? Should women pursue their careers before family, or even have a family or career at all?  

My own mom was always at home, and I intend to follow in her footsteps, although, I would like to have a flexible job once my future children are old enough. This is not a typical family model anymore, though, and moms’ being home with their children is becoming less common. 

In fact, Pew Research Center conducted a study on this subject and found that 79% of Americans don’t believe moms should return to their more traditional role. Surprisingly, 16% of Americans found a mother working full-time and raising children to be ideal. Along with that, 42% believe a part-time job while parenting is ideal for mothers. 

Women should be able to choose what is best for them and their individual family, whether that means staying home or joining the workforce. Mothers lack the choice of career or family due to a changing economy, single motherhood or a lack of support from friends and family. Even if a mother does have the choice to join the workforce instead of staying home, I do not think it is fair to say that they need to pick one or the other to be successful. A woman can succeed at both a family and career if she desires to. According to The Vector Impact, the two lifestyles can complement and spur the other on; having a family makes a successful worker while a job makes a better parent.

Working moms tend to carry two-thirds of the housework and most of the mental load, according to Women in Negotiation. Gender roles are being redefined, and if women are being forced into the workforce, then maybe men should be more willing to help with household tasks. 

Of course, not every family can thrive on a single income anymore, according to Motherly. In a perfect world, we would all be able to become Christlike husbands or Proverbs 31 wives without women having to step into the role of provider and men having to figure out how to run a household, but it is not a perfect world. People are having to blend their roles and take on more than they should. 

The fact that our world isn’t perfect also means that moms lack a village and community to help in time of need. Oftentimes, people pull away from families. They do not trust their families to accept boundaries they place around their children or those families cannot or do not want to help. Another possibility is a couple moves away from their home to entirely new communities. The Atlantic released an article about this concept, saying that “adults with less than 16 years of schooling — which researchers often use as an indicator of socioeconomic status — are 54 percent more likely than those with at least a college degree to live close to or with both of their parents.” 

As of 2021, 53% of Americans have some form of high level degree, according to Forbes, and Inside Higher Ed observed that the favor of higher education in 2022 increased by 8.5%.

 Women should not have to choose between family and a career, and if they do have to, then they should not be judged for the choice they make. Some women want to have a family but also feel called to have a successful career, while others feel called by God to fully dedicate themselves to running a household. Both are valid ways of living, and a working woman can also make an amazing parent, just like working dads do all the time. 

Carter is an opinion writer for the Liberty Champion