Working Moms: More Juggle, More Struggle

Here’s another study from the “well, duh” files, but one that working mothers everywhere will applaud out of a sense of validation: Researchers at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and Michigan State University found that after the workday ends, working moms’ second job as the family multitasker begins.

The study confirmed that women do a lot more juggling than their spouses, and the moms who were surveyed reported that the grind of ending one job at the office only to begin another kind of work at home causes them a great deal of stress and anxiety.

So says a new report in December’s edition of the American Sociological Review, as picked up by my ears from NPR’s Morning Edition last Friday. As it turns out, I heard the first chunk of the story about multitasking while I was in the middle of my first multitasking feat of the day: The story came on my clock radio just before 6 a.m., at which time I’m usually actively juggling trying to wake myself up, while simultaneously trying to go back to sleep, and also trying to pick up on the news courtesy of the NPR morning crew.

I didn’t have time to listen to the full story until more than an hour later, when I was stuck in traffic on , with nothing else to do but sit and listen to the news. Sometimes I think traffic jams are my only downtime these days.

Even as I write this, I’m juggling—worrying about the work-issued iPhone whose inbox is chirping away in the kitchen, trying to write this so it’s halfway coherent, while trying to keep my 18-month-old son (who is finally walking) from harassing the dog who is asleep on the couch.

What’s the solution to all this hand-wringing? Of course, the sociologists behind the study don’t offer much there. To quote the NPR story, one study author suggested “employers could be more creative in scheduling, giving men more flexible hours and more time at home so that child care and household chores can be more equitably divided.” We’ve come a long way, baby, but I’m not sure the world is ready to go that far.

Probably the only real solution would be to have no kids at all and lead a calm, tidy and uncomplicated life. As far as I know, that wasn’t part of the study’s survey, but if it was, I know most of us who are parents wouldn’t go back on the parenthood part. Though maybe we should start buying more lottery tickets.