The rise of the supermom : a look at women who manage family and work responsibilities

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to find out how mothers successfully combine work with care. For the purpose of this study, qualitative interviews were conducted with five married mothers who were in paid employment. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed through thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006). The findings show that mothers who work and care for their children had to learn to multi task in order to be able to spend quality time with their children. The findings also showed that whilst these mothers experience more stress when they combine work with family, they feel better mentally because they feel like they are making a valid contribution in both the home as well as in the work sphere. These women claimed that at work, they were often penalised for being mothers and in fact the majority had to change their work pattern after having children. Yet their male counterparts' lives remained mostly unperturbed by fatherhood as they continued to work full-time and advance in their career. This research clearly highlights the unfair distribution of housework which fell mostly on the women's shoulders, and shows that generally it is still assumed that housework is women's work. These :findings can hopefully contribute to a better course of action by policy makers in order to ensure that future generations of dual earner couples have a better quality of life where responsibilities associated with the family are more fairly and equally shared.