The Mummy Factor

Two new surveys show children of working women get a better deal than single income homes

A new consumer survey by KSA Technopak shows that urban households with working women not only have a higher annual income than single earner homes, but the spend is on elements that ensure a better quality of life. Dual income families spend more on food and grocery, rent and utilities, transport and most importantly on savings (which explains why the proportion of income allocated for servicing of loans by dual income homes is more than double the amount spent by single earner homes). Homes with working mothers spend more on eating out (by 8 per cent), on household help (by 34 per cent), and on cable and the Internet (by 17 per cent). The only major expenditures where the single earner homes lead in relative terms are books, stationery and music (single earner homes spend 15 per cent more than dual income homes); toys (the difference is 2 per cent); recreation (5 per cent); and education (the difference is 17 per cent).

DUAL INCOME

Annual expenditure of families Rs 1.28 lakh SINGLE INCOME` Annual expenditure of families Rs 1.16 lakh Dual income % of income spent on rent and utilities 13 SINGLE INCOME % of income spent on rent and utilities 14 DUAL INCOME % of income spent on food and grocery 36.08 SINGLE INCOME % of income spent on food and grocery 35.73

Which means what the West refers to as the mummy tax (the loss of potential income when a working woman takes time off for motherhood) is actually the mummy spend. And it's not just material benefits. A 2006 study by Sivakami Muthusamy of the Population Research Centre at the Institute for Social and Economic Change in Bangalore shows that working women spend as much time on childcare as non-working women, except for playing with children. The survey of 391 women between the ages of 15 and 49 in urban and rural areas shows the quality of childcare is more important than the quantity. This is a worldwide trend, and goes against the received wisdom that working mothers spell the end of civilisation as we know it because they don't invest enough time in the next generation. An American study by John F. Sandberg and Sandra L. Hofferth between 1981 and 1997 showed that children spent more time with their mothers in 1997 than in 1987, despite the increase in the participation of women in the labour force and in the number of single mothers.

DOUBLE FUN

DUAL INCOME FAMILIES spend more than double the amount spent by SINGLE INCOME FAMILIES on servicing of loans, 34 per cent more on household help, and 17 per cent more on cable and Internet connections DUAL INCOME families go out for movies more often DUAL INCOME FAMILIES eat out more often and spend more on jewellery WORKING WOMEN buy more on credit

Clearly, a new model of measuring quality of childcare has to be evolved, especially since of the 397 million workers in India, 123.9 million are women, and the female work participation rate was 25.7 per cent in 2001, up from 19.7 per cent in 1981. But only 18 million women work in urban areas while 106 million work in villages. More worryingly, only 4 per cent are in the organised sector, so there is little possibility that enabling legislation and institutionalised day care will help. The lessons from the West are that lack of childcare has forced a rethinking of motherhood. According to a 2002 survey by the US Census Bureau, women are either remaining childless or withdrawing from the workforce-in 2002, 55 per cent of women with infants under a year were in the labour force, down from 59 per cent in 1998.

But don't expect any of these complex problems to be highlighted when it comes to discussing the role of working mothers. Grey Worldwide National Head, Account Planning, Naresh Gupta, says the reason why most brands do not depict working mothers is because they tend to target as wide an audience as they can. Working mothers may be doing double shifts to give their children a better life but they are not mass market icons. So apart from the odd ads like Whirlpool's Mummy ka Magic campaign, most children are shown secure only when the door is opened by their stay-at-home mum. Television soaps tend to depict women whose primary work responsibility is to balance intricate family relationships. Strategic analyst Ajeeta Bhardwaj says one reason the media does not project this is because working women in India themselves carry the baggage of their roles as perfect wife, daughter-in-law and mother. Two years ago, she says, Leo Burnett conducted research among women travelling by Mumbai's local trains, and found that they tried much harder to ensure that all their traditional roles were being fulfilled so that nobody could "point a finger" at them.

What of their children? Do happier, occupied women make for more fun families? Media analyst and mother of an 18-year-old, Meenakshi Madhvani, thinks so, pointing out to her own peer group: "Every woman who has done something constructive with her life and talents has more self respect and also earns more respect from her family." Topping the list are the children.

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