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Careers and Cradles: Impact on Academics

How Does a Mother’s Employment Status Affect the Educational Standing of their Offspring?

Alanna Kates

ENC2135-0047

Professor Miya

October 8, 2023

Florida State University

WC: 2663
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Introduction

In recent decades, women have begun to take on diverse roles within the workforce,

causing a shift in family dynamics. For years studies have been conducted to try and seek an

explanation as to whether a mother’s employment status affects where their children stand

academically. The relationship between the two varies significantly due to cultural, social, and

economic contexts. These include factors such as income/resources, time spent at home with

their children, and the presence of a positive role model. All of these factors shape a child's

educational journey in one way or another, and this is found in the research I conducted. This is

because there is no conclusive answer to whether or not a child’s educational standing is

influenced based on their mother’s career.

Maternal Education and Employment Status

Education is the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a

school or university. It comes with advantages such as the chance of a higher-paying job. While Commented [AK1]: Delete this

it is true that seeking a higher degree of schooling isn’t always necessary when it comes to

obtaining a job that is high-paying, there are cases in which it is necessary to hold certain

professions. These include doctors, surgeons, lawyers, mathematicians, etc.

Mothers who complete a higher degree of schooling and obtain a profession in a field that

requires a graduate degree, typically believe that their children must also experience a higher

degree of education in order to be successful in their career of choice. The mothers that are

employed full-time have children that typically have high educational attainment; “...an initially

positive association between academic attainment and mother’s employment was accounted for

by confounders- socioeconomic status, maternal education, child IQ, and early mother-child
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interaction,” (Verropoulou 669). The factors listed make up the influences a child faces when

looking at their educational standing, whether it be positive or negative. The factors are all

independent of each other; the IQ of a child has no relation to their mother’s education, and early

mother-child interactions do not affect the socioeconomic status of the mother’s family.

However, mothers can look at these factors and influence their children to seek high educational

standing and progress further to higher degrees. Typically, when a mother goes through a high

degree of education and goes on to get a job only attainable because of their education, they

project these beliefs onto their children, causing an increase in their child’s educational standing.

Education and Children

Not only does education inform children of the core subjects (math, reading, writing,

science, etc.), but it also enhances a child’s awareness, critical thinking skills, as well as their

attitude. Educational success can stimulate massive amounts of children to hold a strong

intellectual capacity, as well as the growth of their character. These do not only need to be taught

at home, and most of the time, the attainment of a strong character and intellectual capacity

comes from the teachers and educational environment while attending school. Character aligns

with the values learned at home, which are promoted by the child’s parents. When the family

(more specifically the mother) values education, it in turn strengthens the child’s character and

builds a strong attitude toward their educational standing. When a child is exposed to a positive

schooling environment, it promotes success in school and in the workforce. This in turn results in

achievements such as technological advancements and cultural heritage preservation, which

builds strong societies (Azizah 1).

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In connection to a mother’s attitude and how that influences their children’s viewpoint on

school, it is proven that mothers influence their child by using what they learned in their

schooling as a way of impacting their children regarding how they learn at home, in addition to

how much they intervene when it comes to school guidance/counseling. Jacquelynne S. Eccles

writes, “...parents’ education influences parents’ skills, values and knowledge of the educational

system; it influences their educational practices at home and the skills children have to model, as

well as the parents’ ability to intervene in the educational system on their children’s behalf,”

(Eccles). While this is highlighting parents instead of mothers, it still proves the idea that what is

practiced during the mother’s time in school affects whether or not her values will be

implemented onto her child when they are completing their time in school.

In addition to this, the mothers that are employed (after undergoing years of education)

know what is expected of a student, so they have an upper hand when it comes to being in the

know in regards to what her child is learning in school, as well as knowing how to fit the school

system to their child’s needs. Also, mothers that are employed and underwent schooling are able

to use more intellectual ideas at home that she can share with her children, because they have the

knowledge to do so. What is being learned ranges from higher language to reading skills to basic

math. This then causes the child to progress further with these skills in school, in comparison to

those that do not have working mothers. Unemployed mothers may not incorporate these skills at

home, because they do not have the education or employment to do so.

Employed Mothers and Child’s Educational Standing

When mothers are working, they have less of an opportunity to take more time at home

and spend time with their child in comparison to mothers who stay at home with their children
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and do not work. If a mother takes more time to work with their children at home on school work

and educational opportunities, it is found that more often their child will have a better

educational standing as they put more time and effort into learning in and out of school. Not only

does this promote better grades, but it also helps in problem solving; “children whose mothers

are actively involved in the process and the development of their education have a higher

motivation not to give up easily when they do not understand a topic,” (Azizah 4). The quote

does not specify whether or not the mothers that are actively involved at home in relation to their

child’s educational standing are unemployed; the main takeaway is that if a mother devotes her

time to being an active role model for her child, her child will increase their educational

standing. This could be a mother that is unemployed and stays home with her child, or a mother

that devotes her quantity of time, which may be small, to fulfilling the educational involvement

in its highest potential in order for her child to increase their educational standing.

Additionally, the more time a mother spends at home focusing on her child’s education,

the more likely it is for her child to continue to a higher degree of schooling. “Second, maternal

child care time significantly raises the children's years of schooling,” (Datcher-Loury 372). This

supports the previous quote because it is saying that the more time a mother spends at home

engaging with her children, specifically on schoolwork/educational activities, the more time a

child will spend in school and continue on their education at the higher level. They go hand in

hand, because as long as a mother creates the awareness that education must be taken seriously

and is an important factor of their lives, the child will most likely reinforce this awareness onto

themselves and increase their educational standing.

In regard to a mother that is employed, it is often found that the quantity of time spent

with her children is much smaller than a mother who is unemployed. However, the working
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mothers take the smaller quantity of time and look at how they can spend that short amount of

time to the fullest extent: “we find that working mothers trade quantity of time for better

"quality" of time,” (Hsin and Felfe 1). Quality time is highlighted here to show that mothers who

do not have as much time on their hands (being busy with work) are able to use this shortened

amount of time and make it more meaningful. This allows the children to focus their time on

more educational matters with the support of their mothers, if they choose to do so.

In general, mothers that are employed typically tend to focus their quality of time with

their children on activities that are beneficial to their child’s development, whether that lead to

success in school or socially with the people around them. It allows for mothers to allocate their

values onto their children in smaller amounts of time because they are working more often: “...a

career-oriented woman who chooses to work may spend less time with her child but, may

reallocate her schedule to devote more time on activities that can foster child development and

less time on activities that are effective at fostering child development,” (Hsin and Felfe 3).

There are certain activities working mothers highlight with less time on their hands in order to

eliminate activities that are not meaningful, especially when it comes to education. Mothers that

are employed typically spend less time watching TV with their children or give them access to

copious amounts of technology, and instead take time to focus on educational activities such as

reading or practicing vocabulary. This in turn causes a rise in their child’s educational standing,

showing a positive result when looking at the quality of time spent with their child rather than

quantity.

On the opposing side, there have been studies that represent employed mothers not being

able to reach a point in their time spent with their children that focuses on their child’s academic

standing or cognitive development. In the following study, researchers find a negative effect on a
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child’s educational standing when it comes to living with employed mothers; “maternal

employment in the first year is associated with lower verbal ability at ages 3 and 4. In addition,

early job holding is estimated to have a greater detrimental cumulative impact on the reading and

mathematics performance of 5 and 6 year olds,” (Youn 1228). These effects are brought up to

reject the claim that mother’s spend their quality time with their children on educational

activities. It is important to note however that these findings are dependent on each individual

relationship between the mother and the child. Values differ from family to family, in turn

causing differences in the educational standing and devoted time to academic activities in the

home rather than in school. Because these effects are negligible to families as a whole, there is

no conclusion or fixed answer as to how children’s time spent at home with their mothers affects

their academic standing over time.

Unemployed Mothers and Child’s Educational Standing

On the contrary, a mother that is unemployed will spend more time at home with her

child in comparison to a mother that is employed. There is the option for time to be spent on an

array of choices, whether it be educational or non educational. Time devoted to academic

activities are typically increased when a mother is unemployed, because there is more available

time that can be spent helping their child with homework; “time is a prerequisite for parents to

provide intellectual stimulation and social interactions for their children,” (Huston and Aronson

467). When a mother has the opportunity to devote separate and extensive amounts of time to

work around the house (ex: caring for each individual child, cleaning, finances, etc.), there is

more time to be spent on educational activities. Additionally, in the earlier years of the child’s
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life, scholastic activities such as learning the alphabet, basic math, and enhancing reading skills

are more common when a mother has more time to teach her child.

Moreover, women who stay at home and care for their children create the opportunity to

become active role models and educators within the home. Being able to balance many roles

under one roof has the potential to teach children valuable lessons that can be used in an

academic setting. An unemployed woman’s commitment to her family when she is not holding a

job and adaptability in her home is equally as inspiring and important as a woman that provides

for her family financially outside of the home. Also, due to the quantity of time on an Commented [AK2]: delete

unemployed woman’s hands, she may allocate that time to getting involved actively within the

PTA (parent-teacher association) to learn more about the educational environment and advocate

for her children. In addition to getting involved through an organized group, she may also

dedicate her time to attending parent-teacher conferences and learning about ways in which she

may help her child in school.

It has also been found that unemployed women have the flexibility to transport their

children to educational activities that might not necessarily fit the standards of an educational

classroom. These activities may include enriching sports practice, music practice, activities

within the arts (dance, painting, drawing, etc.) as well as science clubs; “structured activities

which include organized leisure activities, classes for leisure, and playing sports,” (Hsin and

Felfe 8). Mothers who are working might not necessarily have the ability to take their kids to

practice or clubs, which in turn may cause them to hire babysitters or nannies. Yes, the assistance

is helpful, but it could cause a strain on finances. In this instance, unemployed women have the

opportunity to use their time and educate their children beyond the classroom.
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Unfortunately, a lot of the time mothers that are unemployed do not have the ability to

help their child when it comes to their academics. This comes down to their lack of knowledge

on school systems, as well as the limits on their education themselves; “low-income families

instead had high expectations and performance beliefs that did not correlate well with their

children's actual school performance,” (Davis-Kean 1). While it is true, they may hold their

children to a high standard when it comes to their academics, they may not be able to facilitate

the child’s needs because of their lack of schooling. Because of this, they are sometimes unable

to help their child in their educational systems (whether that be academic advisement, tutoring,

etc.) provided by the school. Since they are not always aware of how an educational system may

work, they often overlook how a teacher runs their classroom (techniques used by the teacher)

and are sometimes unable to find solutions inside of the classroom.

In more detail, women who stay at home in comparison to those who are employed are

less likely to take action for their child when it comes to their schooling, due to financial

instability. It has been found that working women more often have access to better schools,

tutoring, and the funds to facilitate workbooks, textbooks, and more. Financial instability is not

uncommon due to the fact that sometimes there is only one source of income (the partner), but it

is not always the case in terms of stay-at-home mothers. That is why the above statements in

regard to access to educational material/outreach is not always applicable.

Conclusion

To conclude, there is no definitive answer behind whether or not a mother’s employment

status will affect their children’s educational standing. Studies have reached numerous

conclusions, positive effects on an employed mother’s child’s educational status, negative effects
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on an employed mother’s child’s educational status, no effect on an employed mother’s child’s

educational status, as well as the same conclusions for an unemployed mother.

The main takeaway behind the question, how does a mother’s employment status affect

the educational standing of their offspring, is the idea that a child’s educational standing lies

within the values of a family unit. These values are typically shared between the mother and

father and implemented within the child’s life. If a mother is in favor of academics, then she will

implement it daily within her child’s life, making sure to be a role model for her child’s

development as well as within their future in education. If a mother does not prioritize schooling,

it is most likely going to be passed down to her children, resulting in what could be a decline in

their education. Again, these results will vary as every family and individual is different. As

more studies are conducted, scientists and psychologists will hopefully be able to find a

definitive answer, not biased within a family's values.

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Works Cited

Azizah, Nur, Samsubar Saleh, and Eny Sulistyaningrum. “The Effect of Working Mother

Status on Children’s Education Attainment: Evidence from Longitudinal Data.”

Economies 10.2 (2022): 1–22. Web.

Datcher-Loury, Linda. “Effects of Mother’s Home Time on Children’s Schooling.” The

Review of Economics and Statistics, vol. 70, no. 3, 1988, pp. 367–73. JSTOR,

https://doi.org/10.2307/1926773.

E. Davis-Kean, Pamela. “APA PsycNet.” Psycnet.apa.org, 2005,

psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2005-06518-016.pdf.

Eccles, Jacquelynne S. “Influences of parents' education on their children's educational

attainments: the role of parent and child perceptions.” London Review of Education.

2005. Vol. 3(3):191-204. DOI: 10.1080/14748460500372309

Hsin, Amy, and Christina Felfe. “When Does Time Matter? Maternal Employment,

Children’s Time With Parents, and Child Development.” Demography, vol. 51, no. 5,

2014, pp. 1867–94. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43697487.

Huston, Aletha C., and Stacey Rosenkrantz Aronson. “Mothers’ Time with Infant and

Time in Employment as Predictors of Mother-Child Relationships and Children’s Early

Development.” Child Development, vol. 76, no. 2, 2005, pp. 467–482,

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Verropoulou, Georgia, and Heather Joshi. “Does Mother’s Employment Conflict with

Child Development? Multilevel Analysis of British Mothers Born in 1958.” Journal of

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Population Economics, vol. 22, no. 3, 2009, pp. 665–92. JSTOR,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/40344750

Youn, M. J., et al. “The Influence of Maternal Employment on Children’s Learning

Growth and the Role of Parental Involvement.” Early Child Development and Care, vol.

182, no. 9, Sept. 2012, pp. 1227–1246, https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2011.604944.