The majority of Brits, and especially women, would prefer to stay at home and look after the kids if they could do so, but a similar amount feels that society puts pressure on mothers to go out to work, our survey for the Sunday Times has found.
- 55% of Brits would, if they had young children and were in a suitable financial position, prefer to stay at home to look after the kids than go out to work
- This percentage rises to 69% among women, compared to 40% of men
- 37% of the total would prefer to work
- And men are more likely to choose work over home than women, with 52% of men saying they would prefer to work compared to just 23% of women.
However, despite this apparent desire among women to stay at home with young children, the majority believes that society puts much more pressure on women to go to work than to remain at home, with this pressure unsurprisingly felt most acutely among women.
- 53% of the population believes that society pressures women to go to work
- Compared to just 9% who feel that the pressure is on women to stay at home
- Women are more likely to share the majority view: 59% say society pressures women to work, whereas 47% of men say the same
- But while 6% of women feel pressure to stay at home, twice the amount (12%) of men think there is pressure on women to do so.
