A Research on Working vs. Non-Working Mothers in Sydney, Australia

This research proposal aims to investigate whether non-career women are better mothers than working women in Sydney, Australia, amidst rising inflation and increased maternal workforce participation. It explores the impact on children's education and development, the psychological aspects of motherhood, and whether time spent with children is the sole determinant of successful motherhood. The study considers the increasing number of 'Mum-entrepreneurs' and examines existing literature on the effects of working mothers, including guilt, children's learning capabilities, and the importance of early social interaction. The proposal outlines a methodology for gathering primary and secondary data to address these questions, aiming to contribute valuable insights into the evolving dynamics of motherhood in modern society. Desklib provides a platform for students to access similar solved assignments and past papers.

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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Research Question:.....................................................................................................................3
Aims of the research:.................................................................................................................4
Significance of the research:......................................................................................................4
Background of the research:.......................................................................................................5
Literature review:.......................................................................................................................5
The apathy of the working mothers:......................................................................................7
Children of the working mothers:......................................................................................8
Is spending large amount of time with kids enough to become a good mother?...................9
The situation of Mum-entrepreneurs:.....................................................................................9
Conceptual framework and Methodology:...............................................................................10
Sampling techniques:...........................................................................................................10
Sampling Size:.....................................................................................................................10
The Collection of the Primary and Secondary Data:...........................................................11
What are these data’s?......................................................................................................11
Their usage in this research:.............................................................................................11
How they would be used:.................................................................................................12
Ethics:.......................................................................................................................................12
Research Methods:...................................................................................................................13
Timetable of proposed research:..............................................................................................13

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Report and Dissemination and Conclusion:.............................................................................14
References:...............................................................................................................................15

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Introduction:
In the age of incessant inflation rate and continues rise in prices, it has become
imperative for the mothers to start working. This has led to the increasing participation of the
mothers in the professional world of jobs and opportunities. This decision has come into the
light of providing financial support to the family in order to fight the problems of rising
prices and inflation. Some of these mothers get back to work right after giving birth to their
children, as they do not want to sacrifice their careers which they have developed over the
years. Some of these women and mothers face the daunting task of managing their families,
in-laws, work and their motherhood. It becomes a herculean task for many of them. Against
this backdrop, this research proposal aims to investigate into this question of whether non-
working or non-career women are better mothers in the context of Sydney, Australia.
Research Question:
The primary research question deals with the fact that whether the non-career oriented
women are better mothers than their working counterparts in the context of Sydney,
Australia. Some of the other ancillary research questions are:
 Are the children of the non working women in their education as well as professional
spheres?
 What is the psyche behind the job of motherhood of both the working as well as her
non-working fellow Australian counterpart?
 Is the amount of time spent by the family members and specially the mothers with
their children, the ‘only criteria’ of judging the success of their motherhood?
 Why mothers in Australia are, are so compelled to work, given the better standards of
living provided by the Australian government?

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Aims of the research:
The primary aim of this research is to find out whether the non-working or non-career
oriented women are better in the job of motherhood than their working counterparts. All the
components and factors which influences motherhood for women have been looked upon
with the aim of finding about the authenticity of the above mentioned research question. This
research looks to focus on the bigger picture and all the allied sources regarding the job of
parenthood. The criteria for being a good mother for a working and non-working women, the
kinds of development seen from the children of both these categories of mothers and the
overall problems faced by the mothers and the guilt faced by them in raising their wards. This
proposal aims to investigate this topic, against the backdrop of the city of Sydney, Australia.
Significance of the research:
This research is one of the most important topics in today’s dynamic world, where
motherhood is going through a transition mode. In today’s world, the growing number of
mothers and other women in the professional sphere of life has cast a shadow on the job of
motherhood. It is one of the most important time periods in a women’s life and at the same
time, it is one of the defining periods of any child’s life. The demanding pressures of inflation
need for independence and career growth opportunities have taken a toll on the motherhood
of the mothers. According to Prime Minister, Turnbull of Australia, the country of Australia
is now seeing the highest female workforce participation rate. The Australian Bureau of
Statistics’ Labour Force Australia publication has shown that female labour force
participation rate is now at its highest ever in the last quarter of last 2015 (Australian Institute
of Family Studies, 2018). This trend has continued. This has taken a hit on the motherhood of

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the working women. Against all these development, this proposal looks to investigate into the
motherhood abilities of the non-career women in comparison to the working ones.
Background of the research:
As per the reports, which have come from the former Australian Prime Minister
Turnbull’s office, back in 2016, it had been observed that the participation rate of the women
folk in the professional arena of life has been on an increase. This has led to some serious
repercussions in the motherhood aspects, such as poor emotional and social development of
the child, serious medical implications on the health of the working women, all these factors
has led to the preparation of this research.
Literature review:
Various studies have been conducted dealing with the impact of working women on
their motherhood. A study steered by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that when
mothers work full time during their child’s kindergarten years, the child is becomes less
effective at some of the most basic tasks of everyday life. (Cavel, 2001).It has also been seen
that these children found themselves unemployed 9% more apart from suffering from various
kinds of psychological stress, when compared to 28% more of the time compared to that of
children with nonworking mothers. Apart from this, Wentling (2003) has showed that the
twin roles of women of professional as well as personal life, cause tension and conflict due to
her social structure, performance inequality pay, harassment and in equal work life balance
which are still more dominant in this setup.
In Australia, female employment is overwhelmingly categorized by part-time work, in both
the actual as well as their preferred working hours; whereas when compared to the United
States, full-time employment is the norm in terms of the actual and their preferred working
hours. When compared to the other developed countries of the world, it can be seen that

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Australia is much more relaxed in terms of working women population working hour’s
norms. Nevertheless, the working women have faced a lot of problems in terms of balancing
their personal as well as professional life. The women find difficulties in juggling their urgent
tasks of the office along with the job of taking care of her ailing child (Alam, 2013). The
women folk face many issues while dealing with their children’s sickness and health issues
while simultaneously dealing with their jobs. This phenomenon is prevalent in both the
developed economies specifically UK, US, Australia, Germany and others as well as the
developing nations like India, Brazil etc. In this report, apart from this, the research has
focused on the various other relevant issues concerning the efficacy of motherhood regarding
non-working women in Australia. Some of the statistics about the employment rates of all the
Australian mothers, in accordance with the age of their youngest child from the period 1991-
2011 has been provided below:
(Source: Australian Population Census, ABS)

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This goes on to prove the amount of rapid increase in the number of employed mothers in the
past 20 years, have they come at the cost of the family, this is one of the facets which would
be discovered by this research.
It has also been seen that their exists some differences in the amount of maternity and leave
benefits provided to the parents, specifically the mothers, from the private and the public
sector, as the case may be. Will it have any kind of serious impact on the success of
motherhood; this question needs to be specifically addressed by this research. The complete
statistical details have been provided below:
(Source: ABS, 2013)
The apathy of the working mothers:
Working mothers have admitted that most of them continue to suffer from guilt
during their motherhood phase, as has been explained by Dr Judy Rose, a renowned
sociologist. According to her PhD work which was conducted in 2017, on the same topic of

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‘mother’s guilt’, she has claimed said that ‘any mother breathing have felt mother’s guilt’.
This guilt stems down from the lack of time provided to their children, inability to help their
children in their daily activities, inability to take proper care of their children due to the
pressure of staying away from home because of work pressure. This has led many working
mothers in Sydney to quit their jobs in order to take better care of their children. The cost of
the day care houses are also expensive, which cannot be afforded by young couples residing
in Oz (Yelland et al., 2014). As a result, they begin to take care of their children unlike some
of the older couples residing in mainland Sydney, unlike the younger couple who prefer to
stay in the suburbs as those are cheap.
Children of the working mothers:
A recent combined study of Oxford University and London School of Economics of
2016 has revealed that the children of working women are better learners and they develop
fasters than those who stay in their homes on a full time basis. It was observed that the
children of those mothers who stay at home, had lower capabilities and had a negative impact
amounting to roughly about 5% on their everyday social skills. Additionally, Laurence
Roope, of Oxford University had emphasised on the fact that letting the child spend time in
the day care homes have a ‘positive impact’ on them. She has gone on to explain that
‘engaging in various interactive activities’ makes the child harness his brain skills from a
very tender age. Renowned child psychologist Dr David Carey has gone on to emphasise the
fact that ‘the findings of this research would provide the badly needed reassurance to the
working parents, specially their mothers’. At their primitive years it becomes important for
these children to continue to interact with other children and continue to remain a part of an
enthusiastic group. If the child is not exposed to a vibrant exposure, there remains the risk of
under-development. It is strongly advisable for the mothers who stay at home, to take their
children to different places and expose them to a plethora of activities, which is imperative

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for their all round development. In this way, certain shortcomings of the non-working women
can be overcome.
All these past and current researches have been conducted and some definitive results have
been produced from them. In this research regarding the topic of non-career women being
better mothers than their working counterparts would take into account all these researches as
well take a new route of exploring some of the previously unexplored vistas.
Is spending large amount of time with kids enough to become a good mother?
One of the most pressing issues which have been ignored by the previous researches
in this area is the fact that whether spending large amounts of time is enough for women to be
regarded as a successful mother or is the kind of tasks performed during that time is
important to be considered a successful mother. The proposal tends to explore this issue as
well. Both the quantitative (time duration) as well as the qualitative (How the mothers spent
the time) should also be explored in order to assess the gravity of the issue of motherhood of
working and non-working mothers.
The situation of Mum-entrepreneurs:
In Australia, the number of mothers who are trotting on the path of self employment and
entrepreneurs are increasing at a very fast rate. This rate has been growing at an incessant
pace and will continue to do so in the upcoming years. This tendency has grown over the ears
especially in the case of cities like Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Brisbane. On focusing on
the larger picture, it has to be finding out whether this increase is a good thing or will it have
a bad bearing on the parenthood factor. The women are going into self employment because
of the excessive pressure received by them on a salaried job (Duberley and Carrigan, 2013).
Mothers generally do not get readily accepted in the corporate job because of the possibility
of leaving the job due to domestic life pressure and apart from this they increasingly face a

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wide array of problems while working as mothers in the corporate world, which compels
them to find self employment sources (Koven and Michel, 2013). This takes a financial toll
on the family and as a result of which most of the time gets devoted in the entrepreneurial
activities, causing complete neglect of the children. This leads to an improper parenting and a
gap continues to form between the child and the mothers.
Conceptual framework and Methodology:
The sample techniques, sample size, primary and secondary data are some of the most
indispensable part of any research proposal. They are the tools on which the overall success
of the entire research stands upon. Some of these topics have been discussed below:
Sampling techniques:
Many kinds of sampling exist. These consists of “non-probability sampling, stratified
sampling procedures, quota sampling procedures, mini-max sampling procedures, cluster
sampling procedures and the process of simple random sampling. In this particular research
which is based on the topic of motherhood and includes the surveys and interviews of
mothers , deals with the usage of the procedure of simple random sampling.
Sampling Size:
“The population which is to be studied is actually the population on which the
researcher needs to focus upon and upon which the research study needs to be ideally based
upon. There needs to be a proper and thorough understanding of the target population for the
purpose of ensuring that the needs of the various results of the study are being duly met.
(Sekaran and Bougie, 2016). In this case the population of the study consists of the various
mothers, both working and non-working, who are primarily based in the Australian city of
Sydney. This would be the most important focus of the study.

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The sample population in any kind of survey is essentially the part or a precise
proportion which is to be selected in order to be studied. This is accurately a percentage of
around 10% of the total population which needs to be studied. However, it is very important
to be ensured that the sample population of the study proves to be a just and fair
representation of the actual sample population.
The Collection of the Primary and Secondary Data:
What are these data’s?
In the field of data collection, both primary as well as secondary data, play a vital role
in ensuring success of the entire research paper. Primary data refers to those kinds of data
which the researcher obtains first hand without any kind of medium involved in-between,
while on the other hand; secondary data refers to those kinds of data which are received by
the researcher from past records, researches and other journals (Savin-Baden and Major,
2013). They are of indirect nature and are not raw in nature. In this research, both of these
would be used, for ensuring better grasping of the topic in hand.
Their usage in this research:
It is promising to collect primary data from the respondents (which are the mothers in
this case) by using a questionnaire based on the different issues concerning the main topic. In
the case of the present study, various interviews can also be conducted by means of arranging
for both the working as well as the non-working mothers, who are residing in Sydney. This
could be done either visiting them or by arranging for a place for this purpose. If possible, the
interviews of their husbands as well as their children (with proper permission) can also be
conducted. This would help in providing a more robust and transparent picture of the issue in
hand.

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How they would be used:
For conducting this study in a successful manner, certain amount of surveys and
interviews would be conducted. A total of 20 women were surveyed, consisting of 10
working and 10 non-working. The questionnaire consisted of 20 questions, of which 12were
close ended ones and 8 open ended questions. The items in the questionnaire included various
issues of urban working women concerning related to the amount of working hours, work
pressure, amount of time devoted to the children and family, time specifically given to their
children in the form of their school related issues and play time. They were also asked about
their background comprising of age, education level, marital status, profession, years of
experience, nature of organization etc. For the non-career women, questions were asked
about regarding the time and the effort given to their families and children. The basic
framework guiding this research is the success of the children of both the categories of
mothers, which can be seen from the performances of their children in the different spheres of
life.
Ethics:
Ethics play an important role in each and every research. The gamut of ethics plays a very
important role in influencing various activities and cannot be ignored at all. They provide a
definitive dimension to the research and ads more flare to the authenticity and influence of
the concerned research. The issue of ethics crops up, in the context of motherhood, as the
increased work pressure takes a toll on the motherhood aspect of the working women. Apart
from this, it has been seen that better career opportunities, increased money earning needs
have led the working women to ignore their families and children. This has led to the under-

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development of the emotional aspects of the children and the families. This has led to an
increased amount of ethical dilemma.
Research Methods:
For the successful completion of the project, both qualitative as well as quantitative
methods have been used. Primarily secondary data have been used such as surveys and
interviews have been extensively used.
Timetable of proposed research:
Main
Activities
1ST Week 2nd week 3rd week 4th and 5th
week
6th and 7th
week
Topic
selection
Project
objective and
scope
Background
research
Literature
review

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Research
methodology
Data Analysis
and
interpretation
Analysis of
ethical issues
Results and
discussion
Conclusion
Report and Dissemination and Conclusion:
It has been observed from this extensive study that working women in the
subcontinent of Australia and specifically in the case of Sydney find increasing amount of
problems, while simultaneously juggling their professional and their personal life. As a result
of which, it has been seen that they are not able to provide much time to their children and
families as a result of which they suffer from emotional underdevelopment and various other
kinds of issues. They also face a lot of problems as a result of the increasing differences
between the two. On the other hand, it has been seen that the positive impact of the non-
career women on their children and families has been overwhelmingly positive.

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Savin-Baden, M. and Major, C.H., 2013. Qualitative research: The essential guide to theory
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