More Women Work Through Pregnancy, Return to Job Sooner

by Jennifer Mesko, managing editor of CitizenLink

Women are more likely to work during pregnancy than they were 30 to 40 years ago. They also are returning to work more rapidly after having their first child — 64 percent are back at work within a year, compared with 17 percent four decades ago.

Two-thirds of women who had their first child between 2001 and 2003 worked during their pregnancy, compared with 44 percent between 1961 and 1965, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“What is interesting is the focus on what women are doing relative to pregnancy, childbirth and work,” said Glenn Stanton, director of global family formation studies at Focus on the Family. “But what is missing is how they feel about this.

“Women wish they didn’t need to work as much. They feel the need to work longer in pregnancy and sooner after childbirth because of needing to continue contributing to the household income. Many of them are the primary breadwinner in the home.”

Diane Freeman, a mother of two and the marketing director for a San Francisco law firm, worked through her pregnancies and returned to work just months after giving birth.

“I do wish I didn’t have to work as much, and I wish I could’ve had a longer maternity leave,” she told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Stanton said women are incredibly torn in leaving their newborn babies in someone else’s care.
“One of nature’s strongest and most enduring bonds is between a new mother and her baby,” he said. “We see the baby cry as mom leaves the baby at day care, but only a mother knows her own torment in this hand-off. A mother’s heart is for her baby in every conceivable way, and the fact that work is increasingly dividing this, works against the desires of both mother and child.”

For More Information
Focus on the Family offers resources to stay-at-home moms and working moms.