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Mums look for better working opportunities. Mums are still the main caretaker in the family despite a push to change the way men think about kids.
Busy mums are looking to increase the amount of paid-work they do in any given week, according to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Results from the Gender Indicators, Australia publication, which was released earlier this week (Feburary 7), show that more and more women are hoping to secure full or part-time employment after having a baby.
It was also found that "underemployment" – a catchall phrase used to describe a range of working situations where the employee feels that they might like to increase loads or perform tasks of a higher skill level – was highest among women.
In 2006, when the study was first undertaken, the average dad with kids under the age of 15 spent just over ten hours per day in all forms of work.
By way of comparison women with children in this age group were at work for roughly ten hours per week, while also taking on the main caring role.
And it seems that some six years later the difference between the amount of hours men and women works continues to be an issue.
Employed men completed roughly four more hours of paid work per week than their female counterparts, who spent 37.2 hours in the office.
The numbers change again once kids are thrown into the mix and mums with kids under the age of six, who also happen to work full-time, clocked an average of 33.1 hours per week.
This figure jumped to 37.7 when the youngest child reaches school age, however, the working hours of dads was for the most part on par with their bachelor peers.
However, it is not just working mums who are finding it difficult to meet economic and family commitments.
And as more men take on caretaker roles, it seems that they are being faced with similar problems to a lot of mums although they are still largely in the minority.
Outside the world of paid-work mums are dedicating their time to a number of charitable causes, with the highest number of volunteers aged between 45 – 54 years.
Unsurprisingly, the most unpaid work was done by mums with school-aged kids, suggesting that they may be helping out with local sport, educational and youth development activities.
According to the ABS the report is part of a broader series of publications that are dedicated to gender equality, as well as understanding the different issues that face men and women.
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