Mums are their own worst enemies, finds survey

A new survey has revealed that both working and non-working mothers are their own worst enemies.

While working mums are labelled as uncaring, and as worrying more about work than the progress of their children, those who chose to give up work for home life aren’t winning either.

A new survey shows 40% of non-working mums feel stigmatised for staying at home, while 58% of working mums feel labelled as not taking parenting seriously enough, reports the Courier Mail.

The careforkids.com.au annual survey also found other mums were their own worst enemies, with almost one third of working mothers saying they were made to feel guilty about their choices by other mums.

Labour participation has steadily increased over the past decade and now an increasing number of women are returning to work just a few weeks after birth.

More than one in 10 women were back at work before their babies were three months old, while 44 per cent waited until the baby turned one before returning to paid employment, an Australian Institute of Family Studies report found in 2008.

Financial pressures, love of the job and a feeling they would get overlooked forced women back behind the desk, the report said.