Working mothers are in the firing line again, reports Lauren Booth

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has released a report that will once again make working mums feel guilty.

The study, based on children born in the seventies, found that those with mums who worked about 18 months during their pre-school years had only a 64% chance of passing an A level. This fell to a 52% chance of success if the mother worked for an additional year. Additionally, the children of these working mothers faced a greater chance of suffering unemployment, up from 6% to 9%, and psychological stress, up from 23% to 28%, in adulthood.

These statistics are being presented in the press as further ‘proof’ that working mums damage kids. More and more we are told that working mums face a trade-off: the family’s finances and security versus the success and well-being of the children later on in life.

Like the subjects of this study, I was a child of the seventies. My mother gave up work when I was born and never returned. I can see her now: a bright, thirtysomething, spending every day with two children, fighting debt in between sticking bits of macaroni onto coloured paper. In our case, we would all have been happier with a part-time, fulfilled mum, rather than a miserable, full-time parent. So why, almost without exception, do these studies seem to condemn the working mum?

This latest study suggests that good exam results hinge on a mother’s presence during infancy, but other factors such as poverty, parental education and the quality of childcare play an equally important role. Thirty years ago, playgroups were rare and nannies existed only in Victorian novels and stately homes. So ‘latch-key’ kids were still largely cared for by elderly relatives, other mums or local childminders. The aunties or grandparents they stayed with during the day would take them out shopping and then make the tea or dinner. There were no such things as ‘educational’ toys or ‘quality time.’ As for the childminders, they were a far cry from the council-approved professionals available at great expense today. For a couple of quid a local mum would crowd as many babies as possible onto the carpet in her front room and try to keep them all fed, clean and quiet until their mums thankfully returned.

Next page: no surprises

It’s hardly surprising that some of these children suffered educational setbacks compared to peers enjoying one-to-one maternal care. But, without taking into account the economic factors surrounding them and the availability of quality alternative care, such studies will always be flawed. As Sue Monk, chief executive of Parents at Work, has pointed out, American research now shows that good quality childcare can actually improve a child’s later academic performance. These findings were echoed by another large study, this time commissioned by Harriet Harman. Results showed that, as long as childcare began after the age of one, infants were likely to do better in maths and be less aggressive than their stay-at-home counterparts. After Harriet Harman received the research, she seemed ready to help mothers stay at home with their babies for the first year. But her real enthusiasm was saved for the prospect of sending mothers out to work with a clear conscience after twelve months, because her study into childcare had found ‘no evidence of harm.’

The 2001 budget has placed both maternity benefit and increased maternity leave at the top of the priority list, but where are the affordable, local nursery places so essential for that important return to work?

As I write these words my four-month-old daughter is cooing fretfully, alone in the bedroom. Like most mothers, the idea of giving my child all my attention is appealing but impossible. Like most mothers I can’t afford to pay over £100 a week for childcare, nor can I afford to stop working. When the time comes, I can only hope that any available care will give my daughter everything she needs during my absences.

It’s about time that we mums are supported whatever choice we make. Because just doing our best is the best we can do for our children.

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