Opportunity Costs for working mothers

Given the constraints of time and space, every endeavour has its opportunity cost or trade-off. While working mothers have become a significant national economic force, the conflict or trade-off is how to balance work and family life. Aryee 1992 found positive co-relation between parental / homemaking commitment and work-family conflict. High demand from two worlds have caused many working mothers great stress resulting in low productivity and poor performances in their work and home duties, in turn furthering social and family problems. Is a woman really better off through sacrificing her natural role for a work career?

What are the sacrifices and opportunity costs for a woman who actively involves in her career?

Firstly, she gives up part of her irreplaceable childbearing gift. Compared to say 40 possible years of career life, a woman has only about 15 years for reproduction. If during this short window, she has to focus on career, the price or opportunity cost is simply the reduced opportunity to fulfil her natural motherhood calling. This is a great loss for motherhood is a fulfilling and enriching human experience that every woman, by natural instinct yearns for.

Secondly, she gives up part of her role in child caring. Not only would she have fewer children but the quality of her relationship with them is reduced. A working mother must of necessity have to rely on third party childcare, which however cannot replace her. Childcare services may not be reliable or satisfying, but are nevertheless costly for parents as well as the State. Have we made sufficient comparative studies of the full costs of childcare subsidies and income tax rebates versus our working mothers’ economic contributions?

Thirdly, part of her family life is given up. Her dual role requires her to meet the demands of two worlds, placing an overload or stress on her while leaving her little energy or time for family life, not to say having more babies. Today’s dual income couples have less relationship development, as can be seen in the trend of rising divorce and remarriage rates, which further erodes our traditional family values.

Finally, society collectively pays a cost, not only in lower birth rates but also in poorer upbringing through a weakening of discipline, moral strengths and social values. Children whose mothers are busy at work suffer from having less parental guidance so that we are starting to experience Western trends of increasing teen delinquencies (the recently reported pregnant nine years old girl, whose both parents are full time working professionals, was one of unfortunate examples) and family breakdowns. In turn, social instabilities increase, raising the social costs of security.

In contrast, full-time mothers are able to devote more time and energy to look after their higher number of children (but they do need greater social support). Their husbands too need worry less about home and can concentrate to be more effective at work. Recent studies by the Institute of Mental Health show that her children are emotionally and intellectually more secure and well developed and her family more stable and united.

Full-time mothers contribute effectively to nation-building in at least two long-term ways: -

• The nurture and development of a higher quantity and better quality future work force, and


• Her stabilizing factor for the family, which also contributes to higher social coherence.

Our full-time mothers need and deserve far more support than is presently provided by our society and Government, if we want to preserve a strong Singapore for years to come.