Working Women With Kids at Home Are Struggling

Can too much of a good thing become a bad thing? 

Is there such a thing as “too much family time”?  The pandemic has created a “new normal” for families where they are spending more time together, and this new environment has caused a blurring of lines between work and home, and school and home.  Working women who have children living at home are attempting to balance being a good employee and parent, all while being concerned about a pandemic.  Is this stress and juggling act taking a toll on working women with school age children?  You bet it is.

According to a recent study from Spectrem Group regarding wealthy women, half of working women have had to start working from home, either at their employer's request or their own request.  This is while over a third have also had their children starting to have school at home as well.  This is often creating competing demands on time and mental stress.  When women were asked how this experience of working with their children as they attend school at home has been, 30 percent indicate working with their children regarding school has been poor, or even terrible.  This contrasts with only 11 percent of men that feel this way.  Nearly half of wealthy women with children at home are spending more time with their children with schoolwork.

This situation is causing a change in mental health as well.  There is already the significant concern about physical health, which is the greatest concern for 38 percent of women, but there is also significant concern regarding mental stress.  A quarter of women who have children living at home indicate that mental stress for themselves and their family is the greatest concern to them currently.  This is in stark comparison to the 8 percent of women who feel that way without children living at home.  Looking more closely at stress, over a third of women, regardless if they have children at home or not, have seen their personal mental stress increase as a result of the pandemic. 

This mental stress is likely a pressure cooker from the health concerns, school concerns, work concerns and financial concerns that wealthy investors everywhere are facing.  With the current state of the pandemic it is unlikely that these stresses are going to decrease at any point in the near future, so it is critical that individuals everywhere find avenues to decrease stress and continue to support one another through this pandemic.

Related:How Women Have Reacted To the Change in Work-Life Balance