Working builds my confidence! Moms continuing to explore ways to balance childcare and career

This series introduces the reality of "modern moms" (moms raising infants aged 0-2) by extracting and comparing moms' attitudes and values across various categories in 2014 and 2022, conducted by the Dentsu Inc. Mom Lab Team ( survey overview here ).

Part 1, titled "3 Keywords to Understand the 'Reality of Today's Moms,'" introduced self-awareness and family values. Part 2 examines career awareness.

<Table of Contents>
▼Employment Rate Over 75%! An Era Where "Working While Raising Children" Is the Norm

▼Income and Experience Gained Through Work Become "My Confidence"

▼The "Horizontal × Vertical" Career Perspective Moms Face

▼Embracing Change: Tackling Work-Life Balance and Career Development "As a Whole Family"

▼ "Modern Mom" Career Mindset: 3 Key Points

Employment Rate Over 75%! An Era Where "Working While Raising Children" Is the Norm

As a key premise for this article, it's important to understand the "trend in mothers' employment rates." According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's "Basic Survey on National Living Conditions," the employment rate of mothers in households with children reached 75.7% in 2022, indicating that over three-quarters of mothers are engaged in some form of work. Compared to 63.1% in 2013, this represents a significant 12.6-point increase, showing a major shift in employment rates over the past decade. Furthermore, the breakdown shows an increase in regular employment.

This survey, utilizing Dentsu Inc.'s large-scale database, also reveals major shifts in mothers' career perspectives. Comparing 2014 and 2022, the view that "Women should have their own careers" (74.8% → 89.8%) and "Women should continue working after marriage" (62.7% → 83.3%) each rose significantly by 15 to 20 percentage points. Conversely, the view that "women should focus on childcare even if it means some sacrifice while children are young" (68.3% → 50.5%) has dropped significantly by 17.8 percentage points. This indicates a growing acceptance that continuing work after marriage and childbirth is the norm.

This shift is largely driven by the rapid diversification of work styles in recent years, including the increase in jobs that can be done in spare time and the expansion of remote work options. Raising children often makes securing long stretches of time difficult and requires responding to unexpected incidents. The growing availability of flexible work options has become a tailwind in this context.

Income and experience gained from work become "my confidence"

The normalization of "working while raising children" is also impacting mothers' mental well-being. While the top three responses to questions about personal support systems—led by "family"—remain largely unchanged, items related to work have gained significant ground in the rankings below fourth place. Notably, "income from work (11.7%→25.1%)" and "skills and abilities gained through work (11.3%→18.9%)" have risen substantially in importance.

A key characteristic is that while maintaining the core motherhood mindset of "putting family first," income, networks, and experience gained through work are increasingly contributing to personal confidence. This trend also aligns with the "respect for individuality" mentioned previously.

The "Horizontal × Vertical" Career Perspective Faced by Moms

We've seen that income and experience gained through work are crucial factors for moms in connecting with their "authentic self." But what are their attitudes toward mid- to long-term career development? Dentsu Inc. Mama Lab has long focused on dual-income households. In our 2018-19 series ( reference articles here ), we highlighted "two career perspectives women face."

These two career perspectives are: first, ① the horizontal perspective of "continuing to work," and second, ② the vertical perspective of aiming for "career advancement" on top of that. With the increasing proportion of mothers working while raising children today, both perspectives are becoming increasingly realistic for mothers.

Regarding ① the horizontal perspective of "continuing to work," as mentioned earlier, over 80% believe "women should continue working even after marriage." Furthermore, items like "One should prepare to change jobs at any time (11.2%→21.4%)" "Changing jobs is one way to find my life's work (9.0%→16.3%)" also saw significant increases, indicating a positive attitude toward continuing work over the medium to long term. The number of mothers who "value both childcare and work while viewing their life from a medium-to-long-term perspective with career development in mind" is growing. (Since awareness of changing jobs or promotion tends to become more tangible once balancing work and childcare is established, this analysis focuses on mothers with young children).

On the other hand, regarding the vertical perspective of pursuing "career advancement," while the aspiration to "aim for senior management or executive positions (2.2%→5.1%)" remains at a few percent, over half of all respondents answered that they "have no reservations about working under female superiors or executives (40.4%→49.0%)." As the proportion of women in management and executive roles increases, opportunities to interact with role models and envision one's own career advancement are expected to grow. Examining these two perspectives—horizontal and vertical—reveals that mothers' medium-to-long-term career awareness is gradually but steadily developing.

Embracing change to tackle work-life balance and career development "as a whole family"

Meanwhile, regarding environmental and social issues of interest, "Measures for children on waiting lists/childcare support" ranked first at 68.7%, while "Work-style reform" ranked fifth at 50.5%. Both are constant challenges for working mothers.

Regarding "work-style reform," items like "Want to prioritize work-life balance (52.4%→61.2%)" and "Want to work from home or use telework (37.8%→54.6%)" showed particularly large increases, indicating a growing desire to value family life while continuing work smartly. (Since these items were not included in the survey in 2014, we compare the 2019 and 2022 surveys, when data collection began.)

Working moms often lead extremely busy lives, but it's clear they continue to explore ways to balance both by adapting to various environmental changes.

Furthermore, we must not overlook the family as a team. In our 2018-19 series ( reference articles here ), Mama Lab highlighted the concept of "Family Career," which involves viewing both spouses' careers from a medium-to-long-term perspective and seeking the optimal balance for each other's work.

As explained in the first installment of this series regarding family dynamics, the concept of "family teaming" will make this "family career" approach increasingly important going forward. Mama Lab predicts that when it comes to balancing childcare and work, as well as mid-to-long-term career advancement, the tendency for mothers to grapple with these issues alone will decrease, with families increasingly facing them together.

Career Mindset of "Modern Moms": 3 Key Points

The career mindset of "modern moms," examined in Part 2, can be summarized in three key points: "Continuing to work after becoming a mom is the norm," "Family is the top priority, but career is also 'my confidence,'" and "Exploring work-life balance 'as a whole family' while embracing change." Crucially, underlying this is the dual career perspective women face: "continuing to work" × "career advancement."

In response to this situation, support is growing for products, services, and communication that assist working moms raising children and their entire families. Hoping to see more smiles among "Modern Moms" navigating the balance between childcare and work, Dentsu Inc. Mama Lab will continue its activities.

Next time, we will share insights on the food and health awareness of "Modern Moms."

[Survey Overview]
Data Source: Dentsu Inc. d-campX Surveys (2014/2022)
Survey Area: Greater Tokyo Area
Sample Size: Mothers with infants n=310 (2014) / n=273 (2022)
　　　　　*n numbers may vary slightly due to data collection being split into multiple sessions
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