How Being Raised By a Working Mom Can Lead to Greater Career Success

For those who believe children benefit better from stay-at-home moms, a recent study from Harvard University proves that mothers with thriving careers can also have a positive impact on the future of their children.

According to the study of 50,000 adults in 25 countries, 69 percent of women with a working mother were employed and 22 percent were supervisors, compared to 66 percent and 18 percent of those with stay-at-home mothers. When looking at the United States, daughters of working mothers earned 23 percent more than those with mothers who did not work outside the home.

“Part of this working mothers’ guilt has been, ‘Oh, my kids are going to be so much better off if I stay home,’ but what we’re finding in adult outcomes is kids will be so much better off if women spend some time at work,” The New York Times reports Harvard Business School professor and author of the study Kathleen McGinn saying.

McGinn feels the role model position that many parents play in their children’s life has a lot to do with the study results. Researchers even found that working mothers have an impact on the well-being of their sons. Young men who come from working mothers spend an additional hour a week caring for family members and 17 minutes more per week on housework.

While the study shows the positive impact on mothers who work outside the home, New York University sociologist Kathleen Gerson makes it clear that the attitude’s about working parents depends a lot on family circumstances.

Source: The New York Times