Interesting Bits from “The Rise of the Real Mom”
On the heels of the much larger Shriver Report on “A Women’s World Changes Everything” which we wrote about, this just published white paper from Advertising Age and the ad agency JWT explores what multiple generations of American women want when it comes to family, work and life in the 21st century. First, a recap on some of the bigger statistical observations that echo what we have been hearing:
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As other recent studies and government data attest, women have made great strides in the workforce, with the majority of women working today – and this study found that women 30-44 especially believe that work is very linked to who they are. However, there is continued, rightful pessimism over the gender pay gap (still only 77% of what male counterparts make)… and only 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women.
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Traditional gender roles still exist among married parents – whether the mom is working or not – the moms still take more responsibility for chores inside the house, taking care of sick children, planning birthday parties and other events, and handling the family schedule.
Some of the report’s more specific highlights (even if we are tempted to say “told you so” on most):
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Increasingly moms in their 20s, 30s and 40s are not beholden to perfection; after seeing the impossibility of striving for some elusive ideal of perfection at home and at work, they are realizing that “having it all does not require doing it all.”
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A decade ago, moms aspired to be “Supermom;” today’s mothers aim to be “pragmatic, efficient and rooted in reality.”
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Real Moms want to be real women with interests that extend beyond their roles as caretakers, providers and nurturers.
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As part of this new pragmatism, there is a growing group of “core competency moms,” (a term coined by author Laura Vanderkam), comprised especially of working moms who are cutting themselves slack in non-core-competency area, like housework (called delegating to “Dixie,” i.e. Dixie cups and plates), certain leisure activities (and sleep) to spend more time with their kids. (The new term for this, according to Catalyst is “work life effectiveness”). We like it.
Read the complete White Paper on the Rise of the Real Mom
And the Opinion Piece We Have Been Meaning to Write for a While…
We invite you to read our new blog post on “The Greatness (and Occasional Ugliness) of Moms Online.” Though we have always focused on the good in moms (that being what we overwhelming experience through Executive Moms, and in general, every day), it was impossible to write about the accomplishments of moms online without also noting the exceptions, as a way of appealing to all of us to banish those bad behaviors for good. This is one we particularly hope you will read, comment on, and share!