The days of stay-at-home mothers are behind us, asserts a new report from the Centre for American Progress.
Nearly two-thirds of US moms these days (64.4 percent) are breadwinners, the researchers found. That's a hop from 63.3 percent in 2012, the year of the last analysis , and a leap from 1970, when roughly a quarter could claim the title.
"Long gone are the days when the majority of middle- and upper-income women stayed home to raise families full time," the authors wrote. "Instead, in most families, either both parents work or the household is headed by a single parent."
It's important to note, though, that many women still opt out of employment after having children, desiring to be the primary nurturing force in their children's lives. Sometimes, however, the soaring cost of childcare or a lack of paid maternity leave knocks them out of the workforce.
Much of the time, mothers work because they have to work. One middle-class income can no longer support most households, and culture has shifted away from the rigid gender roles of generations past. But public policy hasn't caught up, argues Sarah Jane Glynn, senior policy adviser at the Centre for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank.
"The fact that women are bringing home a significant portion of their families' incomes does not mean that there is gender parity in the workforce, nor does it mean that working parents and caregivers have the supports they so vitally need," she wrote. "A lack of policies such as universal paid family and medical leave, paid sick days and workplace flexibility still hold women back from reaching their full economic potential."