Motherhood is hard work, especially while trying to find the balance between having a family, a career and some well-deserved "me time." However, finding downtime between the collision of work life and family life is difficult. And according to a new study, it's as tasking as having two full-time jobs.
The study, commissioned by Welch's Grape Fruit Juice, surveyed a total of 2,000 working moms with children between the ages of five and 12 years-old across the country to get a better idea of what their daily schedules are. The survey-based research looked into varied aspects of motherhood but its most striking find is the length of the average working mom's day.
After combining the hours spent on family and work duties, moms put in 98 hours per week — equivalent to having two full-time jobs and working overtime. The study finds the average working mom starts their day at 6:23 in the morning and does not stop until 8:31 at night. That's like having a 14 hour work day. Its no wonder, then, why four in 10 moms surveyed felt their lives were a "never-ending series of tasks."
"The results of the survey highlight just how demanding the role of mom can be and the non-stop barrage of tasks it consists of," Casey Lewis, the Health & Nutrition Lead at Welch's, told Yahoo! News. "Busy moms may identify with the list of 'lifesavers', which highlights not just a rigorous workload but a constant requirement to feed and fuel the family, week in and week out."
It is important to note the 98 hour estimate may not be entirely accurate. Most full-time jobs last five days per week, not all seven. Nonetheless, as Bustle points out, the study highlights the broader issue of "domestic labor," where women are expected to cater to their family, leading to a loss of interest in climbing the corporate ladder and a much longer work week and for 78¢ on the male dollar.
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