Never enough hours in the day: Employed mothers' perceptions of time pressure

Abstract

Finding sufficient time to meet work and family commitments poses immense challenges for employed mothers in 21st century contemporary life. Understanding how employed women with children manage their finite time resources requires deeper investigation of how time pressures accrue across work and home contexts. This study draws on data from in-depth interviews with 18 working mothers from diverse occupations (professional, sales, service, clerical, technical and trades) and across a range of employment hours (full and part-time). The findings from this study show that employed mothers endure high levels of time pressure related to time poverty (insufficient time for necessary or discretionary activities), time intensity (multitasking and merging work and home boundaries) and time density (familial emotion and organisation work). When women use strategies to increase time efficiency, it does not necessarily reduce their perceptions of time pressure. Juggling multiple tasks simultaneously distorts women's temporal experiences and diminishes the quality of time. Workplaces and policymakers need to find better ways to encourage employed fathers to share the responsibility for home- and family-related care and organisational work. Such measures may reduce the time stress and time inequity women endure, particularly in the time management control centre of the home.