Effect of Maternal Employment on Child Hood Education Essay

Abstract The study aims to examine in detail the effects of maternal employment as a doctor on child’s academic achievement at school level, with the help of using samples taken from working doctor and non working mothers and the schools grades of their respective children. The results predicted show that mothers as a doctor does exert negative impact on the academic achievement of their children. Further findings highlight that mothers education and the quantity of time spend with the child incase when the mother is working are the important tools for better school performance. The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement Introduction As we all know Pakistan being a developing nation gives great importance to two main sectors namely health and education. Therefore a lot of funds and resources have been contributed to these sectors over two decades on the principals of making Pakistan a healthy and literate community. Over the years Pakistan has witnessed a great deal of changes in its social, cultures and norms one of which has great relevance to our research such as female employment. The number of female employees has greatly increased. However female employment in profession cannot take place alone until and unless it blends with sound education. Therefore an increase employment in female sectors has led to a simultaneously increase in schooling or education as well, both of which are primary focus of our discussion. Since females are now opting medical as their profession and female doctors are increasing day by day, it was for this reason why we opted for this topic to study the impact of maternal employment as a doctor on their children’s primary education. Our aim is to make people aware of the fact whether maternal employment effects children’s education or not. In Lahore preschools and primary education schools are opening up at every location. This increase in demand for more schools is mainly due to more and more mothers going out for work. To become a doctor and serve the community can although be seen as positive aspect individually and socially however it can also have serious or negative implications on the child.To draw conclusions whether the working mothers as doctor have a positive or negative influence on child’s development we would need to consider several aspects of this development  that is how it affects the child’s academic performance and achievements, his personal character development and mental and emotional well being. All of the factors mentioned above would help us in determine whether it is feasible for the mother to work as a doctor or stay at home giving attention to their children. To study in depth we have taken into account the effect of working doctor mothers on children who are mainly enrolled in preschool and primary school. Children when are between the age of 3-12 years are most demanding in time and it is these early years of a child in which a strong bond between mother and child is created followed by the character development. Mother as doctors will tend to leave their children at day care or pre schools which might end up with negative effects on the children. On the other hand preschools and primary schools may also have positive impact on the child’s growth such as learning of new activities and work in groups which will help them build up confidence and lastly make them independent at a very young age. Despite these positive aspects of the schooling, a child might not perform well in his education performance. To carry out the survey and research a lot of variables were considered and used in finding. Variables such as the number of years after the mother started practicing medical profession after the child’s birth, the monthly income of the female doctors, the fraction of the to tal monthly salary spent on children. Last but not the least the amount of items available in the house that contribute in time saving techniques resulting in ample time available for the mother to be spent with the child, these equipment would mainly include washing machines, dryers dish washers and the number of helpers present in the house. Our main objective is to also study and compare previous generations to today’s generations in Pakistan. In past very less women were doctors and mostly were housewives who believed in not to work but to spend quality time at home and give in their best efforts to bring up their children. However nowadays females are becoming doctors. Thus a question arises whether women can still manage to give quality timer to their children with medical as their profession or children have to suffer because of their mother as doctor. Which option is better, to become a doctor and raise children or become a house wife and raise children. These questions will be addressed and answered in our research. Questions that will be asked from the doctors and non working women that will help us formulate general results  are in the form of two questionnaires. To gain more primary data which is still not answered by the questionnaires; there will also be direct interviews from the doctors. Thus our population will be few female doctors in Lahore that have children. However we have further narrowed the female doctors to a few hospitals at Lahore. The sample would be taken from surgimed hospital/ Services hospital.To sum up, research paper mainly focuses on the effect of mothers being doctors on their childhood’s development with special importance given to education development. To summarize in one line, the research helps in studying the development of child when their mothers are doctors (maternal employment sector) or when their mothers are housewives (nonemployee). Literature Review This paper involves number of studies that involve the relationship between maternal employment and children’s cognitive development. Maternal employment can be taken as an economic factor which eventually can affect and influence a lot of environmental conditions, thus it also affects the children’s cognitive abilities. We cannot deny the fact that economic conditions initially play a vital role in child’s development but on the other hand psychological aspects can also not be denied and need to be taken into account. To define and state them more clearly some of the factors affecting the child outcomes may include maternal employment, education levels of parent’s socio economic standing and other demographic standings. It is widely believed that mothers as doctors have less time available to spend with their children therefore one could say mothers as doctors have negative effects on the cognitive development of children. Some of the problems that can come across are slow language development process, unable to solve mathematical problems and deficits in reading abilities. Ruhm (2000) found out that during the early years such as 3 and 4 years old, children had detrimental effect on language learning and children with the age of 5 and 6 years had to face the problems mathematical inabilities. Lack of interaction and bonding with the mother at this stage in life may lead to cognitive difficulties in the child .Maternal employment results in separation of mother and child therefore providing a gateway to cognitive problems. An interesting finding that we found out while going through the  literature was that unlike maternal employment, unemployed fathers have negative effects. Harvey (1999) found out some significant results though they were more or less confined to high income versus low income families. Harvey (1999) conducted different surveys and techniques and studied the effects of maternal employment on cognitive development. Harvey (1999) found out that maternal employment is favorable and has positive impact to children that belong to low income families. This is perhaps because children from poor families receive more education in their pre schooling compared to if they stayed at home. This view point can also be supported with the fact that mothers from poor families are less educated and thus have less motherly skills. However children from richer families mostly lose out when their mothers are not at work. Income effects: David Blau (1999) conducted a study which focused on income effects. Blau (1999) found out that only permanent income that is from permanent career can affect the relationship which also is to a limited extent. Blau (1999) agreed that different economic classes do affect the cognitive levels. Family variables are important which mainly include mother’s educational level, marital status and race. Education Status: With respect to Blau, Loury(1988) examined that the educational level of the parents is the main cause of cognitive problems. To conclude about the literature review Investigation into the influences on children’s development shows the fundamental factor is the nature of children’s experiences in their primary life contexts, including the relationships between those contexts and wider socio-cultural contexts. The most influential factor is the nature of interactions with parents and, in the early childhood education setting, with early childhood educators. With regard to the impact of maternal employment, the direction of international research suggests maternal employment in itself has no significant negative or positive effects on children, although small negative cognitive and behavioral effects of extensive maternal employment may occur in the child’s first year. These possible negative effects are linked to the quality of the early childhood education, so high quality generally removes the negative effects and may increase positive effects in that first year. Any negative effects of maternal employment are negligible beyond the child’s first year  and must be seen in relation to the numerous influences in the different contexts of a child’s life. Methodology The purpose of the study is to look at how mothers working as doctors have an effect on their children’s performance in the field of education at preschool and primary level. To carry out research, female doctors who have children were selected as population from hospitals of Lahore mainly constituting Services and Surgimed hospital . To carry out data collection the population was sampled and fifteen female doctors who have children from each hospital were given a questionnaire and similarly two interviews from each hospital were conducted. We have used quota sampling based on convenient and non probability sampling. Semi structured questionnaire which consists of both structured and unstructured questions have been used. The questionnaire designed focused on general questions in the beginning and then focused more towards specific questions, the approach known as general to specific was used.. Since there are large numbers of female doctors who have children working in these two hospitals; it was easy for us to collect data with the help of questionnaires by distributing them once and collecting the questionnaires back next time. Unstructured interviews were also conducted, two from each hospital to collect data.The aim of the interviews was to find out any additional information that could not be generated or left out in questionnaires. This additional information was generated with help of probe questions. We tried our best to create an atmosphere which is suitable and comfortable for the respondents to conduct the interview Questions used in questionnaires are mostly measured in numerical frequency. The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement Questionnaire results and discussion: Q1: Most of the mothers (working and non working) were married, thus majority of them belonged to a stable family meaning by they were not disturbed due to family domestic affairs.(See Appendix for charts) Q2: An interesting finding from the questionnaires was that mothers who worked as  doctors had less children. On an average female doctors had two children. Whereas mothers who were not working had a majority of three children. Thus clearly highlighting the fact that mothers can give more time to their children if they are not working. (See Appendix for charts) Q3: Mostly mothers who had children of below the age of five years took leave from their profession to up bring their children. (See Appendix for charts) Q4: Both mothers who are working as doctors and mothers who are nonworking had majority of their life partners (husbands) as working and earning. (See Appendix for charts) Q5: Income was enough for them to buy things for children. (See Appendix for charts) Q6: Though when this question was put in a different way in terms of spending time with their children. Women who were not working, mostly spent 6 hours a day with their children whereas working women only spent 4 hours a day due to their staying away from home unlike nonworking women who worked while staying home thus could give more time to children. (See Appendix for charts) Q7: Mothers who worked in hospitals had hired maids for their children to look after them whereas non working mothers who hired maids were 9 out of 30 mothers who answered questionnaire. Out of 30 working mothers who were given questionnaire 16 had The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement hired maid’s .Therefore mothers who don’t work can look after their children much better unlike maids hired by working mothers for their children. (See Appendix for charts) Q8: Though there is a slight difference as most of the nonworking mothers visit 6 times years while working mothers visit 4 times a year. (See Appendix for charts) Q9: Mothers who work are supported and to great extent in bring up their children up to their academic expectations. Majority working mothers stated that their husband contribute more than 50% in children’s education responsibility. Whereas mothers who did not work took most of the children’s education responsibilities and husband contributed very less. Therefore a valid conclusion drawn is that mothers who do not work can give more time to their children’s education and can produce better results. (See Appendix for  charts) Q10: Mothers who worked provide their children with recreational activities such as taking them out to restaurants etc. Whereas mothers who stayed at home emphasized more on providing recreational activities such as sports for healthier routine and health. (See Appendix for charts) The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement Q11: Now talking about the main research question. Results drawn showed that mothers who did not work their children showed a better academic performance when compared to mothers who work. Out of 30 working mothers only 9 termed their children with excellent academic performance whereas in case of nonworking women out of 30, 18 termed their children as excellent in academics. Therefore clearly indicating that mothers who do not work are able produce better results out of their children unlike working mothers. (See Appendix for charts) Q12: Mothers who were working wanted their children to get the highest degree of education to become successful in life. Majority of the working mothers wanted their children to do masters. (See Appendix for charts) Q13: Some working women agreed that bringing up child is possible with job whereas almost an equal amount of women did not agreed that bringing up child is easily possible with job and thus affects overall performance especially academic performance. (See Appendix for charts) Q14: When working and non working mothers were asked about their opinion as mothers. Non working mothers termed themselves in majority (25 out of30) as excellent mothers whereas mothers as doctors only 12 out of 30 termed themselves excellent mothers. (See Appendix for charts) Q15: Lastly mothers were to give reasons of why they were working. Most of them mothers stated that they worked either for advancement in career or for monetary reasons. (See Appendix for charts) The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement Interviews were also conducted from working women from the hospitals. The unstructured interviews followed by probe questions helped us  to find more useful information about their impact of job on their children’s education performance. The findings from the interviews were finding out how much interest they showed in their children’s education and whether they had ever thought of the impact of their profession on their children’s education performance. Most of the female doctors were interested in their children’s education performance and were concerned but they also agreed that at times they lack in keeping their child’s performance up to date due to their performance. Thought it was found out that they tried to give equal time to their profession and their children to maintain balance however doctor as profession did not allow them to work on this idea freely and thus female doctors as mothers were more towards the view that doctor as a profession is too demanding, therefore some cost in the form of children’s upbringing has to be paid. To find more details doctors were asked what they thought of this profession whether it is friendlier towards family. Most of the doctors abruptly answered in a negative manner and demanded that working hours too long and should be cut short so that more time can be spent with families. Though in monetary terms they were happy since most of the female doctors quoted a handsome amount of salary and were able to meet their children’s requirement and their schooling (education). Lastly questions were asked from doctors whether they would like their children to be a doctor as well keeping in view the costs associated and children’s education impact. Most of the mothers were not in favor of making their children’s doctors stating that there is no social and family life in this profession. The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement Conclusions Findings from the research we suggest that doctor as a profession is not friendly and does not goes in favor side by side in bringing children’s education performance to the peak. Mothers working as doctors no doubt work hard in up bringing their child to their best however nowadays doctor as a profession is becoming demanding day by day and the number of hours to work have increased. Simultaneously education competitions have also increase and have become very demanding. Therefore looking at the results mothers who works as doctors, their children suffer more than mothers who do not work and spend time with their children. The other two sectors like bankers etc  had less or negligible effects on children’s education. Thus doctor’s children have a negative impact on their children education unlike mothers who are government servants or bankers. Recommendations The research is very helpful and will provide a good rationale for female mothers who work as doctors to take a decision whether to take up job or bring up their child as nonworking mothers. Looking at the results and findings the researcher suggests that in Pakistan, doctor as a profession is very demanding and has negative effect on children’s performance. Therefore it is recommended that women instead of taking up doctor as their profession should look for other job alternatives such as banking or other government jobs which are less demanding and have less working hours. The main advantage of considering other professions would be to give time simultaneously to their children along with their jobs. The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement Limitations: The one and only limitation faced in the project was to get the questionnaires filled out from the doctors. Since most of the time doctors were busy and getting hold of doctors to take their interviews and filling out questionnaires was difficult. The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement References Blau, F. D., & Grossberg, A. J. (1992). Maternal labor supply and children’s cognitive development. Review of Economics and Statistics Achenbach, T. M., Edelbrock, C., & Howell, C. T. (1987). Empirically based assessment of behavioral/emotional problems of 2- and 3-year-old children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Baydar, N., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1991). Effects of maternal employment and child care arrangements on preschoolers’ cognitive and behavioral outcomes: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Developmental Psychology Brooks-Gunn, J., Han, W., & Waldfogel, J. (2002). Maternal employment and child cognitive outcomes in the first three years of life: The NICHD Study of Early Child Care. Child Development,