The Work Motivations of Mothers with Preschool Children

Abstract

This article provides a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the motivations for employment among a sample of 166 Sydney mothers, each of whom had at least one preschool-aged child. Mothers with high and moderate work attachment indicated a multiplicity of motives, of both an extrinsic (financial) and intrinsic (e.g., personal satisfaction, sense of achievement) nature. In contrast, the majority of women with low work attachment cited extreme financial need as the only possible reason that would impel them to enter the labor force. When asked which was, or would be, their most important reason for working, women with high work attachment endorsed more nonfinancial than financial reasons, women with moderate work attachment were about equally likely to give either reason, and women with low work attachment predominantly gave financial reasons. Husbands' perceptions of the reasons their wives were working, or would work, showed some, but not complete, agreement with those of their wives.