Are working mothers happier?

Just as the number of women working outside the home has climbed steadily upward since 1880, moms earning money isn't a modern innovation, either [source: Stern]. Even in 1960, during the days of "Father Knows Best" when at-home mothers were the cultural standard in the United States, 27.6 percent of married moms with children under 18 years old held down jobs [source: Alger and Crowley]. As of 2010, more than 70 percent of U.S. mothers with school-aged children brought home a paycheck [source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics]. Though not surprisingly, the proportion of working mothers (roughly 75 percent) is highest among unmarried women who double as the heads of household [source: Joint Economic Committee Majority Staff].

Among married couples, however, the division of chores and childcare hasn't evolved toward gender equity alongside developments the workplace. In fact, social scientists report that the ratio of male-to-female housework has stagnated in the past century, since long before women were common fixtures in cubicle farms [source: Belkin]. According to the University of Wisconsin's National Survey of Families and Households from 2008, full-time working mothers put in an average 28 hours of housework each week, compared with 16 hours per week for working husbands [source: Belkin]. In the late 1980s, University of California sociologist Arlie Hochschild termed these post-9-to-5 duties married women perform as the "second shift," emphasizing how, for many employed moms, the work day doesn't end once they tuck laptops away in their briefcases [source: Ruttner].

At-home moms might take umbrage at the suggestion that their domestic responsibilities are any less time-consuming -- and not without merit. When mothers elect to stay at home with dads bringing home the bacon, women devote 15 hours per week to childcare, whereas the working dads only clock two hours. Household management additionally eats up 38 hours per week, coming awfully close to the standard 40-hour work week [source: Belkin]. Moreover, the extra time afforded by not holding a job is theoretically funneled toward children for their well being. At-home mothers can, in theory, assist with organizing school fundraisers, courier kids among a host of extracurricular activities and help with homework instead of answering evening work e-mails.

But in spite of their kid-friendlier schedules, full-time at-home moms aren't the happiest among all women with children.

One way the inherent pressure involved with employed motherhood manifests is in the amount of stress encountered on a given day. For instance, a 2005 survey from the Pew Research Center found that 40 percent of working moms always feel "rushed" throughout their daily routines [source: Pew Research Center]. Twenty-five percent of at-home mothers and working dads, on the other hand, felt perpetually rushed, although both working and non-working mothers exhibited higher rates of stress than men in the survey [source: Pew Research Center].

Despite these clues that working mothers grapple with more stress, psychological research has found that they are subjectively happier than unemployed mothers. According to a study from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, mothers with part-time jobs enjoyed better health and lower stress levels that their full-time and unemployed counterparts [source: Rochman]. The research, published in December 2011 in the Journal of Family Psychology, also indicated that part-time working moms exhibit greater sensitivity toward their children, participate in more school functions and foster more extracurricular learning [source: Rochman]. A January 2012 study from Rutgers University also determined that flexible work options, such as teleworking, correlate to a more fulfilling work-life balance for mothers [source: Alger and Crowley]. In that way, engagement and autonomy outside the home can allow part-time working mothers to stay more fully engaged inside the home, without the added demands of a 9-to-5 schedule.

On the down side, there's also a part-time penalty that many working mothers encounter. Although workplace studies have found that mothers in particular accomplished 22 percent more in 10 percent less time compared to their peers, they bear the brunt of lower part-time status [source: Pynchon]. In addition to not accruing health benefits and paid time-off, part-time work earns up to 60 percent less than full-time for identical jobs [source: Joint Economic Committee Majority Staff]. Perhaps the mental health boon is enough of a bonus for mothers, however, considering that 60 percent identify part-time work as the optimal employment scenario [source: Pew Research Center].

And what about the kids? Working mothers feeling anxiety over whether their paychecks are bankrupting their children's development can rest easy. A 2010 meta-analysis of child development literature published by the American Psychological Association found no adverse effects of maternal employment over the long term [source: Lucas-Thompson, Goldber and Prause]. Individual studies have indicated minor achievement gaps in early childhood, all of which were nonexistent by age 3 [source: Luscombe]. In which case, it's high time for the "Mommy Wars" to declare a ceasefire.

Women today can have it all. They can pursue educational and career opportunities unhindered by gender, thanks to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and advances in birth control mean they can better decide the optimal time for starting a family. But while we have the intellectual, legal and medical tools pursue careers and have kids, having it all can be an energy-sapping juggling act. Even in 2012, working mothers tend to take care of more housework than their male partners, regardless of employment status. And they typically bear the brunt of childcare as well.

So for this working woman who wants to start a family someday, I sometimes wonder whether "having it all" is worth the extensive hours and energy required. Could staying at home with the kids suffice, or do those briefcase- and backpack-toting professional mothers have the happier lot?

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