realities of mothers in europe

Transcripción

FACTS & FIGURES
From the
2011 Survey of Mothers in Europe
A report by MMM Europe
May 2011
Prepared by
Julie de Bergeyck
Dr. Owen Stevens
Joan Stevens
Anne-Claire de Liedekerke
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................. 3
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 4
Executive Summary............................................................................................................. 5
Methodology....................................................................................................................... 7
Overview of Findings ........................................................................................................ 10
1. Profile of surveyed mothers ................................................................................. 10
2. Motherhood .......................................................................................................... 12
3. Satisfaction and well-being as a mother............................................................... 13
4. Family relationships .............................................................................................. 18
5. Opinions of mothers ............................................................................................. 20
6. Retirement ............................................................................................................ 21
7. Intergenerational and social networks of support ............................................... 23
8. Time use of mothers ............................................................................................. 25
9. Key policy messages .............................................................................................. 34
The Single Mother: A Case Study ...................................................................................... 42
Summary ........................................................................................................................... 48
List of Questions of the “Survey of Mothers in Europe” ................................................... 50
ANNEX
European Associations Aiding in the “Survey of Mothers in Europe” .............................. 59
About the Mouvement Mondial des Mères (MMM) ....................................................... 62
2
Acknowledgments
This report and the survey from which it is drawn are the result of a large volunteer
effort across borders. We express deep gratitude to the thousands of mothers and
several experts who voluntarily helped create, translate, disseminate and respond to
the Survey of Mothers in Europe. Organisations which supported this effort are listed in
the Annex.
Special thanks go to the extraordinary team of volunteers who translated and collated
the messages sent by the responding mothers. Our report would not be possible
without their tireless and precious volunteer effort. We also express gratitude to the
experts who have provided scientific counsel throughout the process.
Karin Bengtsson (HARO, Sweden), Ariane de Liedekerke (Belgium), Brigitte de
Vaumas (Accion Familiar, Spain), Katharina Droste (Germany), Monique GeensWittemans (Belgium), Zsuzsa D. Kormosné (NOE, Hungary), Anna KováčováHabovštiaková (Donum Vitae, Slovakia), Martina Leibovici (Fit for kids, Austria),
Anna Lines (FTM, UK), Jacques Marquet (UCL, Belgium), Bernard Masuy (UCL,
Belgium), Michiel Matthes (European Alliance for Childhood), Catherine
Matuschka (Germany), Marie Peacock (UK), Lorenza Rebuzzini (Forum delle
Associazioni Familiari), Eszter Sandor & team (Eurofound), Eija Sevon (University
of Jyväskylä, Finland), Sylviane Stolberg (Germany), Karla Van Leeuwen (KUL,
Belgium), Owen Stevens (Brussels), Katherine Jarvis (University of Hawaii),
George Jarvis (University of Alberta) and the MMM Europe team (especially
Catherine Couplan, Véronique de Vaumas and Claudin Solanet).
For the survey and analytical tools we thank Qualtrics.com. For help with dissemination
of this report special thanks go to Datapresse.com, the European Economic and Social
Comittee and the Bernheim Foundation for their gracious partnership. Photos in this
report were courteously provided by Armand Hekimian and Kim Ledent.
Finally, words are inadequate to express our gratitude to the thousands of European
mothers who trusted us with their thoughts and concerns. Their passion, engagement,
and wisdom infuse the assembled data. This report provides but a first glimpse of the
insight which will reward thorough serious study of the messages they have sent. We
earnestly hope that the gold mine of experiential knowledge provided by these mothers
of Europe will be acknowledged and acted upon by policy makers in the Europe Union
and in each member state.
THE AUTHORS
3
Introduction
The European delegation of the World Movement of Mothers (MMM Europe) is a partner in the
Family Platform (www.familyplatform.eu) launched by the Research Directorate of the European
Commission in 2009. The mission of the Family Platform was to generate a research agenda for
future evidence-based family policy development in the European Union.
In harmony with its mission as the Voice of Mothers in Europe, and seeking to assure
consideration of the concerns and realities of mothers, MMM Europe launched a survey of
mothers in Europe to inform its contribution to the work of the Family Platform.
The aim of the present report is to provide a first description of the results of the MMM Europe
2011 Survey of Mothers in Europe. For a more concise presentation, please consult our
brochure What Matters to Mothers in Europe, in English, French, Swedish and Spanish,
downloadable from www.mmmeurope.org. Additional and more advanced analyses of survey
results are also in process.1
1
Interested academic researchers are engaged in extended analysis of survey responses. Their findings will
be presented in academic conferences and journals and summarized in MMM Europe working papers
accessible via its website.
4
Executive Summary
The “2011 Survey of Mothers in Europe” ran in 10 languages across 16 European countries and
received responses from more than 11,000 mothers. Expert interviews, focus groups, survey
preparation, and analysis were done by volunteer mothers at MMM Europe’s Brussels office.
They were assisted by a dozen brilliant volunteer mothers in the language areas across Europe
who provided support in translation and in capturing the messages in the open-ended
questions.
What caught our attention is that over 90% of responding mothers report being “satisfied” or
“very satisfied” as mothers and report good overall family relationships with partner and
children. According to them, the most important factors that ensure their wellbeing are:
o For their relationship with their children: “stable and harmonious relationships
within the family” and “having sufficient time to spend with them”
o For their partners, it is “respect, love and tolerance”
It may seem somewhat difficult to translate these findings into actionable policy measures, but
the logical imperative is to create favorable environments which support the efforts of mothers
and fathers to nurture those stable and harmonious relationships within their own families. This
calls for recognition of and respect for family priorities in employment, housing, transportation
and other policy formation.
The need for appropriate respect and understanding is reflected in the messages which mothers
address to European policy makers when responding to the survey. Mothers do not ask for more
love, they call for actions in domains which have direct impact on their day-to-day life:
 In order to improve their work/family life balance, the surveyed mothers demand
enough time to educate their children. This request is voiced insistently by younger
mothers who have children still at home but who are required by circumstances to
divide their time between paid work and direct investment in the development of their
children and family. These mothers feel caught in the “rush hour” season of their lives,
being pulled in multiple directions simultaneously. They ask for increases in
maternity/parental leaves from paid work, more possibilities and opportunities for parttime paid employment, more flexibility to match work schedules with family
responsibilities, more family-friendly work assignments and job definitions, and better
adapted daycare solutions.
 Mothers want to choose for themselves how they will rear their children and manage
their family. They do not want to be herded by imposed rules written by economic
planners. They want to be respected and enabled in whatever choice they make to raise
their children.
 Mothers want paid employment but they also want to choose their engagement as a
function of their season in the mother’s lifecycle.
 They want better recognition of the vital importance of unpaid family care and
motherhood in society.
5
 Mothers want the decisions of mothers and parents to be respected when they deem it
best to stay at home to care directly for their children.
 Mothers want a financially viable way to access quality daycare or to choose to care
personally for their under school-age children.
 Mothers want the family to be recognized for what it clearly is in their own experience-the primary multigenerational resource for the entire society. They demand that
families and children be taken seriously and regarded as the future of our society.
While there are moderate differences between countries and regions, the common concerns
and priorities of mothers as summarized above clearly transcend the differences.
6
Methodology
Development of the “Survey of Mothers in Europe“ began in September 2009 with a series of
exploratory interviews with persons active in counseling and working with mothers and
children. Themes extracted from these interviews provided a guiding framework for interviews
with individual mothers, which in turn identified themes that were explored more fully in focus
groups of mothers drawn from widely differing cultural and economic backgrounds. While the
interviews and focus groups were in process, a review of recent European research was also
undertaken. While the interview experiences with mothers were increasingly poignant, the
review of existing scientific and scholarly literature revealed that little attention was devoted to
mothers, to the point that the very word “mother” was hardly mentioned, as if the people we
had been interviewing had no socially contributive role or identity to be acknowledged let alone
explored. Even more rarely did researchers give mothers the opportunity to speak with their
own voice. These realisations produced a growing sense of an imperative to reach out to and
give voice to as many mothers as possible. The cruciality of this imperative ignited the energy
that propelled the project onward: A questionnaire would be constructed and disseminated as
widely as possible across Europe. It would invite mothers to identify their concerns and
priorities and provide an opportunity for each to write a message in their own terms for delivery
to European policy makers. Participating mothers would also be invited to continue in dialogue
with the MMM Europe team to ensure that their voice would no longer be left to echo unheard.
Survey tool and scientific counsel
The MMM Europe volunteers sought and obtained crucial scientific help as the project
advanced. Given the volunteer nature of the project team and the limited time and resources
available, only online delivery and analysis of the questionnaire could provide the needed timely
result2. World class, solidly tested and robust survey and analytical tools were graciously
provided by www.qualtrics.com, an international research organization serving universities and
large enterprises worldwide. Scientific counsel was graciously provided by several university
partners and researchers throughout the process. Particularly precious scientific advice for
analysis of the results came from Bernard Marquet (Université Catholique de Louvain) and Karla
van Leeuwen (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven). After all the data had been collected, Bernard
Masuy (Université Catholique de Louvain) went beyond the extra mile to transform the initial
responses into databases in SPSS and NVIVO formats3 suitable for later sophisticated statistical
analysis.
Questionnaire discription
The eventual survey instrument consisted of twenty-five basic questions with various sub
queries. On average participants took 25 minutes to complete it. The questions were grouped
into the following areas:
 Family background: Variables include age; family structure; number, age and residence
of children.
2
The survey was solely accessible via the internet. Latest 2010 Eurostat data indicates that 70% of
households in the European Union have internet access, of which 61% have large bandwidth access.
3
Those wishing to engage in further analysis are invited to please contact [email protected].
7
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
Socio-demographic background: Variables include age, educational attainment,
employment, affiliation, voluntary activity, religious commitment, migration
background, and residence location.
Satisfaction as a mother: Variables include satisfaction and contributing factors.
Opinions on family issues: Degree of agreement or disagreement with common
statements about mothers and family.
Time use: Variables include theoretical preference for paid employment versus and
actual engagement in employment, and versus family care, and satisfaction with time
use.
Retirement: Variables include plans, concerns, envisioned time use, housing, and
financial preparation.
Intergenerational and social networks of support: Variables explore family and other
sources of social and material support.
Family relationships: Variables include causes of difficulty within the family,
relationships with children and partner, and factors deemed important in determining
the quality of child and partner relationships.
Free-text open responses were solicited on the following topics:
 “If you were talking to a woman who is pregnant with her first child, how would
describe what it is like to transition into being a mother?”
 “If you could launch a message to the political world in order to increase the family’s
wellbeing, what would it be?”
 Of those reporting dissatisfaction with current work schedule, the following question
was posed: “Please explain why you are dissatisfied about your current work schedule.”
 Other: Twelve of the typically fixed-choice questions include a final answer category
termed “Other” or “Other, please explain”.
For reference, the full list of questions is included at the end of this report.
Survey timing
The survey opened on February 1, 2010 and ended on August 31, 2010. When the survey was
launched, MMM Europe hoped that mothers would respond and voice their opinions, but
expectations were far surpassed when thousands of mothers responded within the first four
weeks of the launch. The survey was terminated when the total of respondents passed the
11,000 mark.
Languages and countries
The Survey of Mothers in Europe was launched in 8 languages: German, English, French, Dutch,
Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Swedish. A 9th, Slovak, was added on March 25, 2010; and a 10th,
Finnish, was added in April 2010. With these 10 languages we were able to address mothers in
16 countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg,
Spain, Italy, Hungary, Sweden, Finland, UK, Ireland, Malta, and Slovakia). Translation and basic
analysis of free text responses was done by a dozen volunteer mothers, each working in her
mother tongue and in dialogue with MMM Europe staff in Brussels.
8
Profile of Respondents
Participating mothers learned of the survey through word-of-mouth, email, and links on the
websites of the MMM, its affiliated organizations, or other civil society associations4 which serve
mothers and families in Europe. The sample was therefore made up of mothers that recruited
each other to take the survey. Thus an important feature of survey participants is that they are
probably linked together, many of them in already constituted information- and/or actionrelated networks. Such a sample is well-known in research circles, and is been referred to by
various descriptive names such as “snowball sample”, “affinity sample” or “network sample”.
More important in assessing the nature of the sample of responding mothers is the profile they
reveal through their answers to questions. Here are some key features of this profile:
 Besides being a woman, each respondent is a mother who gives high significance to her
identity as a mother.
 Respondents have access to and both know how to use a computer, and how to
communicate widely through the internet
 Respondents are also characterised by the motivation and ability to keep themselves
informed on matters concerning motherhood and family issues.
 A feature of their motivation is that they were told that this survey would give them an
opportunity to compose a personal message to European policy makers5.
 Respondents desire to make their thoughts known, and they were motivated to seek
out the link that would permit them to do so.
4
See the Annex for list of associations across Europe who have helped in disseminating the survey.
This relates to the many thank you messages that the respondents left behind in the “comments” section at
the end of the survey.
5
9
Overview of Findings
The findings presented in this report are based on responses from 11,887 unique respondents7.
1. Profile of surveyed mothers
Besides their opinions, concerns, and priorities, mother’s responses to the survey questions also
provide knowledge about who they are. The general profile is of a mother of a certain maturity,
a high level of education, married or living in couple (87%), with 2.6 children. Approximately,
60% of responding mothers are currently employed full-or part-time or on parental leave.
Participating mothers have a propensity to offer volunteer service.
The three tables below provide a profile of survey respondents. Figure 1A provides the general
statistical profile of participating mothers. Figure 1B reveals participant country of residence.
Table 3 classifies mothers by language used in responding to the survey.
Fig 1A. MMM Survey of Mothers in Europe 2010
11,887 respondents
Mothers by number of children
Partners/spouses of Mothers by
employment
1
23%
Work as employee, or employer/selfemployed
2
32%
Employed but on leave for child-care
or other cause
3
23%
Retired
4
13%
Full-time homemaker
5 or more
9%
Unemployed
8
Mothers by age of children
Other
Child(ren) under 6 yrs
32%
Mothers by highest education
completed
21%
Primary
16%
Secondary
Children above 18 yrs
31%
Post-secondary
Children still living under the same roof?
University and more
Yes, always
80%
Mothers by voluntary service
Yes, sometimes
9%
Yes
No, not anymore, they are independent
10%
No
now.
No, never
0.5%
Those who volunteer do so in the
(list continues on next page)
following areas:
 55% in non-profit associations
 27% at school
 16% in community aid
 27% in other ways, of which half
7
86%
0%
5%
1%
2%
6%
1%
12%
36%
51%
55%
45%
The database was cleaned by Bernard Masuy, research consultant from UCL, and is available for
secondary research in SPSS, CSV and NVIVO format. These databases include responses from a total of
10,244 mothers. Please contact [email protected] concerning access to and use of these files.
10
Patchwork family?
No
Yes
If yes above, do the children of your
partner live with you?
Yes, always
Yes, alternatively
No
Age of mothers
18 or less
19-25
26-40
41-55
56-70
71 or more
Mothers by couple relations
Married or living with partner (includes
2% remarried)
Separated or divorced
Single (never married and do not live with
partner)
Widowed
9
Mothers by employment
Work as employee, or employer/selfemployed
Employed but on leave for child-care or
other cause
Retired
Full-time homemaker
Unemployed
10
Other
volunteer in their parishes
8
Mothers migration background
Yes
No
Mothers by area of residence
93%
7%
22%
19%
60%
City
Countryside
Suburbs
11%
89%
57%
25%
18%
0%
1%
52%
36%
10%
1%
87%
8%
3%
2%
51%
8%
4%
23%
3%
11%
8
In the survey, we asked if at least one family member is issued from migration (including father and/or
mother and/or grand-parents).
9
For reference, another question later in the survey also asked about their current time use: 28% work fulltime, 32% work part-time, 6% look for a job, and 33% are full-time stay-at-home mothers. If you add up
the categories “maternity leave”, “retired”, parts of “other”, one get to about 33% full-time stay-at-home
which equals the 33% of the other question.
10
Category labeled “other” was undefined but includes the public sector, liberal professions, teachers,
artisans, assisting spouse, etc.
11
Figure 1B. Mothers by Country of Residence
Mothers by
country
France
Belgium
Spain
Hungary
Germany
Italy
Great-Britain
Sweden
Slovakia
Luxemburg
Finland
Malta
Netherlands
Austria
Switzerland
Ireland
Portugal
Number of
respondents
3640
1916
1712
851
721
563
382
278
243
240
163
122
119
100
89
68
32
Percent of
respondents
32%
17%
15%
7%
6%
5%
3%
2%
2%
2%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
0%
Figure 1C. Mothers by Language
Average
number of
children
Mothers by
Language used in
MMM survey
3.2
2.6
1.9
2.3
2.1
2.5
2.6
3.1
2.6
2.4
2.5
2.1
2.8
2.3
2.5
2.3
2.0
French
Spanish
German
Hungarian
English
Italian
Dutch
Swedish
Slovak
Finnish
Percent of
respondents
47%
15%
9%
8%
6%
5%
4%
3%
2%
1%
In addition to the portrait revealed in the tables above, it is to note that the desire to express
their views characterized survey participants. This suggests that the panel is a sample of
confident active, educated, politically concerned mothers.
2. Motherhood
As part of the survey, mothers were asked the following question: “If you were talking to a
woman who is pregnant with her first child, how would you describe what it's like to transition
into being a mother?” This question received a response from 8282 mothers.
The messages contained much strong emotion, and the dominant themes were:
1. The birth of the first child constitutes a major and irreversible change in focus, priorities,
and life-course. One never again sees life as one did before becoming a mother.
2. The responsibility of motherhood is experienced as supremely challenging, highly
demanding, and worth everything it costs.
Here are representative extracts:




“It is the achievement of an enormous project! It calls for great responsibility, and for commitment
and for giving of oneself. But it brings with it great happiness.”
“Before I was just ME; now I am US.”
“A total change of life. One no longer lives for oneself, but one is obliged to think first of one’s
children. With one’s partner/husband one is no longer a couple but a family.”
“It is a big change going from 2 to 3. Baby becomes the focus. It is important for the parents to be
united as a couple and to attend to each other.”
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
“A Big shock, everything changes, intense and impossible to describe in words…when things are in
place, the love shared outweighs all the sacrifices that are a must. No other experience is like it in the
world and no greater accomplishment, degree or career can outweigh that love.”
“You think that you can love, but when you have your first child the love that you feel is like nothing
else on this earth. It will make you become a lioness and want to protect your children from all harm
and badness. You will love your children forever and nothing can break that bond. Spending time with
your children, telling them how much you love them is far more important than any material thing
that you can buy for them. They probably won’t remember most of the toys and gadgets that they
get, but they will remember the walk on the beach and the picnics they had with you, the baking of
the cake and the special times!!! ”
“The passage from woman to mother is an exceptional event that only we women can fully live. The
relationship between mother and child is wonderful, moving. It is the most beautiful gift of life, and it
is a privilege that we have and that none can take from us.”
“It is the most beautiful gift that life can give to a woman. Motherhood produces a personal
blossoming that motivates us toward giving and generosity. To be a mother is to give of oneself. It is
an act of love immeasurable and unbounded by time. It is also an enormous challenge that drives us
to humility in failure, that pushes us to surpass one's inner (personal) and outer (physical) limits.”
To do full justice to all 8282 recorded messages will require additional effort and the use of
sophisticated analytical tools. The full database is available in NVIVO format for interested
researchers. Please contact [email protected].
3. Satisfaction and well-being as a mother

Out of the 9107 respondents to the questions on satisfaction, 94% say they are
satisfied/very satisfied as a mother, with only 6% reporting they are unsatisfied.
o Mothers from Eastern European countries show the highest degree of
dissatisfaction among mothers with more than 10%
o Mothers from Luxemburg and Sweden show the lowest degrees of dissatisfaction
with less than 3%
o Among the 591 unsatisfied mothers, nearly half report experiencing a difficult or
very difficult family situation and are unsatisfied with their current time use.
o As seen on the chart below (Fig 2), marital status impacts the satisfaction of
mothers. Mothers who are in a partner relationship are more likely to be satisfied
than single, divorced or separated mothers.
Fig 2: Cross-tabulation between satisfaction and marital status
13
Fig. 3: Cross-tabulation between satisfaction and employment status
Fig. 4: Cross-tabulation between satisfaction and time use
o
o
As seen on the two charts above (Fig. 3 and 4), there is also a difference in
satisfaction among respondents depending on employment status. Mothers on
maternity leave/parental leave and stay-at-home moms are more likely to be
satisfied than others, followed closely by self-employed respondents. Those working
full-time report lower satisfaction than those working part-time.
The chart below (Fig. 5) confirms that there is a strong correlation between general
satisfaction and satisfaction level of the panel’s time-use.
Fig.5: Cross-tabulation between satisfaction as a mother and satisfaction of time use

When asked to vote on a list of factors (see table 6 below) that could contribute to
improving the wellbeing of mothers, all respondents said it is very important not to “have
violence in the family” (89%). Closely following in frequency of mention were “having
14
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
enough time with their family” (80%), “more love, respect and tolerance” (74%), then
“Work/life balance” (71%) and “harmonious communication in the family” (69%).
o The “time issue” is considered as particularly important for mothers with young
children in the household.
“Living in adequate and safe housing”, “more intergenerational solidarity”, “less consumeroriented society” and “having enough leisure activities” were considered as other categories
important to them.
Please note that 46% say that to “have more children” is important to them.
Fig. 6: Q: Please indicate which factors are most important in contributing to the wellbeing of mothers in
general and their families. Family and work-related factors are included.
N = 9087 lowest and 8007 highest
15

Through comments in the “other” category, more than 900 mothers provided additional
clarification as to factors contributing importantly to satisfaction and well-being. Some of
the clarifications mothers provided are given below:
 “The state should take responsibility and offer quality childcare and understand that if
they want women in the labor market they should take this seriously. It's for the sake of
all society not of just the women.”
 ”Recognition of stay-at-home mothers. I am convinced that society would be more
peaceful if families were motivated to take care themselves of their children. Even, if a
training is sometimes very helpful. Furthermore, working hours matching school hours
would allow many women not to be in front of a dilemma: the children or work. Both are
rewarding and contribute to women’s wellbeing. A happy woman will be more available
for her children and receptive to their needs, including to their limits.”
 “Recognition and acknowledgement of the inestimable value of the mother to the family
and society”
 «Mothers are generally excellent time managers in the sense that they can’t stay in
endless meetings. Therefore, they become efficient co-workers. This skill needs to be
better recognised and should allow companies to hire more women during school hours
schedules only. I believe a lot in corporate daycares that enable a proximity of the
mother OR the father with his/her small child. There should be a better recognition that
the childrearing-related professions are highly qualified jobs in terms of human relations
and education and that they should be more strictly controlled and better paid, not
based on diplomas, but rather on the capacity to take care of fragile beings who act like
‘sponges’.”
 « A better recognition of the mother’s AND father’s role at work. If the father is
recognised, it will be more the less easier for the mother. One has to concentrate on
both. The parental leave is taken too little by men because it is not well perceived. If it
was more taken by more men, it would be better perceived for the women too….”
 “Longer paternity leave”
 “Reduction in typical adult full time hours to reduce absent father syndrome and make
more part time opportunities available for other parents”
 “REAL opportunities to choose between stay-at-home motherhood and paid work”
 “A family friendly society...”
16
A preliminary classification of factors mentioned in these 900 messages is provided in Fig. 7.
Note that 43% of the messages were linked to the financial and psychological recognition of
the valuable investment provided by stay-at-home parents:
Fig. 7 : Analysis of the messages in the « Other » category in response to the factors contributing to the
wellbeing of mothers
Allocation for stay-at-home parent
19%
Choice to be employed or stay-at-home to care for children
13%
Better recognition of stay-at-home parent's role
12%
Rights linked with employment (pension)
11%
Better adapted daycare solutions
8%
Want a place for dialogue
7%
Better recognition of fathers' role
7%
Other (support for handicapped, illnesses, tolerance, etc)
6%
School-related
4%
More help to find employment
4%
Flexible work hours and shorter commute
3%
Days off during school holidays
3%
More support for single mothers
Facilités pour l’allaitement (Facilities for nursing babies)
2%
1%
Note : Does not include 120 messages from Spain
17
4. Family relationships
In general
 Some 89% of respondents rate their relations within the family as good or very good.
 Nine hundred sixty nine (or 11 %) report a difficult or very difficult family situation
 Those expressing difficult or very difficult family situations were asked17 to identify
contributing factors from a list of items. Highest rated factors from the list were
separation/divorce (29%), loneliness (15%), and depression or medical issues (15%).
Fig. 8: Q: What are the reasons of your difficult family situation?
N = 1,140, Only if experiencing a difficult family situation, several answers possible
Relationship with children
 When asked more specifically about relationships with their children, 98% reported good to
very good relationships.
 Respondents were also asked to rate the importance of relations with children in a list of
nine factors. Additional factors could be volunteered through an open response question for
which results are yet to be analysed.
o Rated as “very important” were “having stable and harmonious relationships within
the family” (89%), followed by “having sufficient time to spend with them” (84%)
and “being able to set and maintain boundaries and limits.” (74%)
o Finance and adequate lodging came rated as the top “important” factors.
o The factors that were ranked as not important or not at all important are “influence
of the media and time spent in front of a screen (TV, Internet, GSM, MP3)” as well
as “influence of my child(ren)’s friends”
o As said before, some 1,154 respondents also added their reasons in the “other”
category. Here are some examples that show the wide range of factors mothers
believe are important for their relationship with their children:
17
This section was started later and several choices were made possible only after the week beginning
March 22, 2010.
18








„Mutual trust“
“Maintain a dialogue”
“Balanced diet”
“Be able to financially support their scholar education”
“Not to be too tired”
„Stable couple”
“Love”
“Respect, affection, moderation”
Fig. 9: Please indicate which factors are most important in influencing your relationship with your child(ren).
In reality, are these factors applied in your family?
A little bit 3%
Absolutely not 0%
Nearly 44%
N = 8,559 lowest and 8,635 highest

N = 8,601, one possible answer
Relationship with partner18
With reference to partner relationships, respondents rated their relationship from very
good to very difficult, after which they were asked to rate from “very important” to
“unimportant” a list of ten factors followed by an open-response option yet to be studied.
o Some 91% reported a “good” or “very good” relationship, with 56% very good.
o The most frequently selected very important factor is “Respect, love and tolerance”
(92%). This was followed by “share same values” (71%) and “being in
agreement/disagreement on how to rear children” (66%)
o The factors reported as important are “financial situation” (65%), “relationship with
your extended family (parents, brothers/sisters, etc)” (56%), and “quality of your
sexual relations” (57%), and “sharing of tasks, depending on availability” (51%)
o The least important factor is “Regulation of time spent in front of a screen (TV,
Internet, GSM, etc)
18
Question on quality of relationship with partner asked only if respondents had stated earlier if they are
married, in couple, or remarried.
19
Absolutely 53%
o
Here again, a few more than 700 respondents used the open-ended space to give
their own opinion on important factors related to their partner relationship: The
two main topics that came back often are trust and dialogue/communication, like
these examples:
 “Maintaining a dialogue increases the relationship even if we don’t share the
same opinions; it’s important to be able to say how we feel about each other,
even what we don’t like about each other. It downplays the situation to put
words on problems.»
 “Respect for each other, understanding and acceptance of each other’s different
backgrounds”
 “Trust”
Fig. 10: Please indicate which factors are most important in influencing your relationship with your partner.
Factors that influence Relationship with Partner
Very impo rtant
Impo rtant
No t very impo rtant
Unimpo rtant
Respect, lo ve and to lerance
Share o f same values
A greement/disagreement o n ho w to rear o ur children
To have sufficient time fo r each o ther
No stress at ho me
Sharing o f tasks, depending o n availability
In reality, are these factors applied in your family?
Quality o f sexual relatio nship
A bso lutely no t 3%
A little bit 6%
Regulatio n o f time spent in fro nt o f a screen (TV, Internet,
GSM , etc)
Relatio nship with yo ur extended family (parents,
bro thers/sisters, etc)
Financial situatio n
A bso lutely 50%
Nearly 41%
0%
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
N = 8,264lowest and 8,292 highest
N = 8,227, one possible answer
5. Opinions of mothers
Mothers were asked to agree or disagree with seventeen statements of opinion, a sample of
which is given in the table below. Highlights include the following examples of strongly
shared opinions:
1. 99% agree that “Healthy and good relationships within the family promote the
emotional health of family members”.
20
2. 97% agree that “Policy makers should always consider the impact on families when
preparing government policies”.
3. 96% agree that “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is
entitled to protection by society and the State. (Article 16, Universal Declaration of
Human Rights)”
4. 95% agree with the statement that “The service mothers perform for their children
should be recognised as important work”.
5. 91% agree with the statement “A mother’s influence goes far beyond the home and
contributes to the cultural, economic, and social development of her country.” (Ban Ki
Moon, May 2009)
6. Opinions differ widely on the statements that “Mothers would have more children if
they did not have to work” or “if they had access to better childcare solutions”.
7. 83% of mothers reject the statement that “Teenagers can take care of themselves after
school”.
8. 64% of mothers in the panel do not agree with the statement that “Motherhood is well
recognised and valued by society”.
9. 64% reject the statement that “Mothers find remunerated employment to be more
satisfying than the upbringing of children”.
6. Retirement



About 1000 mothers responded to
this section, which corresponds to
the mothers who did not have their
children under the same roof
anymore.
About plans for retirement: 65%
rely on their pension, 45% on their
savings, 31% on their housing
investment, one fourth have private
pension plans and 15% chose the
“other plans” category.
o The
eastern
countries
showed a slightly different
set of responses with 84%
relying on their pension and
only 16% on their savings.
Their main worries are by far
health-related (60%), followed by
financial with 36%. About 10% have
written that they do not have ANY
worry in the “other” category.
o In the eastern countries,
financial
worries
are
number one before health
problems.
Fig. 11: What plans have you made for retirement? Check
any that apply.
N = 1,015, asked only if no children at home anymore; several responses
possible
Fig. 12: Regarding your retirement, what are your
concerns? Check any that apply.
N = 926, asked only if no children at home anymore; several responses
possible
21



Relative to time use,
Fig. 13: How do you spend or envision spending your time? Check any that apply.
the vast majority of
the
respondents
have said that in
their
retirement
their time is or will
be spent in helping
their
respective
families (81%), and
volunteering (68%).
Other
frequent
responses include
spending time with
N = 1,033, asked only if no children at home anymore; several responses possible
their families (59%),
and leisure and travel. One out of four is or would like to continue studying.
o Compared to all other countries, and especially with Italy (95%), respondents in
Finland and Spain ranked low in willingness to “Help their respective families”
(50% and 59%)
With regards to the financial
Fig. 14: How do you or will you provide for yourself? Check any that apply.
resources of those who are
or will retire, 57% depend
on the pension of their
partners, 51% have a
pension of their own and
43% depend on their
savings.
 The more children
they have, the more
respondents
depend on their
partner’s pension.
 Here again, there is
a
significant
difference with the eastern countries.
Regarding
lodging
during
Fig. 15: When talking about retirement, what is your housing or
retirement, the vast majority
would be your desire for housing?
(73%) want to keep their own
house or other independent
housing as long as possible. The
second choice (39%) was “if I
am/become infirm or unable to
care for myself, I am/will go to a
retirement facility because I do
not want to become a burden on
my children”. Only 3% live or
would like to live with one of their
children (except the Eastern
region where the proportion is
7%).
22
7. Intergenerational and social networks of support
Who helps mothers:
 Of the 5,574 mothers who have responded to this section, 69% can count on their
partner to look after their children either regularly or occasionally.
 56% of respondents say that their parents help them tend their children, for the most
part on an occasional basis.
 The situation is similar when there is a sick child.
 For some household tasks 49% are helped regularly by their spouses, 40% occasionally,
and 12% never.
 80% report that their spouse regularly helps out and boosts their morale. Only 5%
receive no moral support.
 Parents, other members of their family, and friends also play an occasional role in
providing moral support and keeping company.
 In reference to finances, 4/5th of respondents depend on the regular financial support
of their spouse.
 Some 34% receive occasional financial support from their parents.
 As to transportation, in 44% of cases, it is the spouse that helps on a regular basis, while
friends help only occasionally.
 About one out of three mothers (3523) in this panel uses external day care or nursery
services on a regular or occasional basis.
 About one out of 10 mothers (946) in this panel use regular home services (nanny) to
care for their children while they work.
 About 1 out of 4 mothers (2498) use regular home services such as a cleaning lady for
household tasks.
Fig. 16: In your daily life, where do you turn for help and for which reasons?
N=6,337 lowest and 8,013 highest
23
Whom do they help:
 As to rendering service outside the home, nearly half the mothers reported offering
regular or occasional service to other members of their family, to friends, and to
neighbors.
o Of those who responded to this question, nearly 1 in 2 looks regularly after the
children of family members, friends or neighbors.
Fig. 17: On the contrary, who turns to you for help and why?
N =5,698 lowest and 7,195 highest
With regards to volunteering in the community, there is a strong correlation between the
number of children, the mother’s age, and the mother’s engagement in paid work:
 The more children mothers have, the more they will volunteer (39% of mothers with
one child, 59% of mothers with 3 children, 77% of mothers with 5 children)
 The older they are, the more they volunteer (44% for 26-40, 66% for 41-55 and 76% for
56-70)
 Retired (75%) and stay-at-home mothers (69%) are more likely to volunteer. Those least
likely are those on maternity or parental leave (41%).
24
8. Time use of mothers
This section treats in more depth the issue of time devoted to work versus time devoted to
family. Mothers in the survey were asked about three aspects of their allocation of personal
time between paid work and family care: ideal preferences, present actual time use, and level
of satisfaction with their actual time use.
Preference: Respondents were asked to express their theoretical preferences with regard to
paid work (full-time or part-time) versus full-time attention to family.
Fig. 18: Surveys* have asked women their preferences concerning paid work. About 20% choose to center their
lives on a career, about 60% would like to combine paid work with family care duties, and about 20% would prefer
to center their lives on full-time unpaid family care duties. What would be your preference? (*Dr Catherine
Hakim….)
N =10,142, one answer possible
As seen in Fig. 18 above, 11% of responding mothers expressed a preference for a full-time
employment, 63% prefer some combination of part-time work and family care duties, and 26%
prefer to take full-time care of their family.
Fig. 19: You have selected a combination of part-time work and family care duties. If you had the choice, which
option would you choose depending on the children's age periods below:
N= 5,462 - 5,640 only if responded combination of paid employment and family work
25

The mothers who expressed preference for a combination of part-time paid work and care
for their family were asked to further explain how they would prefer to allocate their time
as a function of the age of their child.
There is a strong commonality across all European respondents to this question. As seen on the
chart above (Fig. 19), there is a definite correlation between the age of the children and the
amount of time desired to take care of them. There is a clear preference for full-time family care
when the child is between 0 and 3. After that, the clear preference is for part-time paid work
until the turning point to preference for full-time paid work after the child passes 18.
By combining the responses in Figures 18 and 19 as explained in the note below19 we can
deduce that of all surveyed mothers:
 76% prefer to care full-time for their infant from the birth to 1 year of age.
 61% prefer to care full-time for their child from 1-3 years in age.
 37% prefer to care full time for their child till she/he attains school-age.
 As the desire to devote full time to child care drops the preference for part-time
employment rises.
 Preference for full time employment rises as the child ages, and jumps to dominance
when the child passes her/his 18th year.
Thus, when one combines all mothers who express employment-centred and adaptive
preferences, between 74% and 90% of mothers surveyed want to work for pay at some point in
their lives.
Similarly, it can also be seen that when considering both home-centred and adaptive groups
fully 91% of responding mothers want to consecrate time to the care of their own children in
amounts varying according to age of their child.
The pattern revealed by these preferences corresponds to the seasons in the life of a mother.
There are seasons when the needs of her family call for more presence and investment in her
children, and there are seasons when she feels free to work longer hours outside the home.
The expected needs of her child (as indicated by the child’s age category in the survey
questions) are a key determinant.
To the oft-repeated question “What do mothers want?” we see a clearly logical answer. Most
mothers want the possibility to commit to service away from their children only when they are
satisfied that their children will not be diminished by the diversion of their focus.
19
Calculation: According to the data "Time Use Preference in the "Combination" Group of Mothers ( PT
work/family care), for children less than 1 year old approximately 80% of "Combination" group mothers
want to care full-time for infant.
What proportion of total mothers does this represent? "Combination" group is 63% of total mothers
responding to this question. So, 83% X 63% = 52% This is the proportion of the "combination group"
mothers as expressed in terms of total mothers.
Then this 52% is added to the group of mothers who desire to take full-time care of family, which is 26%
of total mothers: 52% + 26% = 78% of total mothers want to care for infant 0-1 year full-time.
26
Reality versus preference: After asking respondents to express their preferences as to the use of
their time, the questionnaire asked how their time was in actual fact presently allocated
between the three options mentioned. The proportion is about 1/3, 1/3, 1/3, with 6% looking
for a job.
Fig. 20: And, in reality, what is your daily life schedule like?
N=9938, one possible answer
Variations in Actual Time Use
 On a regional and country-level, we see that the curves vary a great deal. Hungary and
Finland have a similar curve with a high proportion of mothers having full-time employment
(47% and 42% respectively). However we saw that their satisfaction level is very different.
 The UK and France show the highest percent of “stay-at-home” mothers with 43% and 41%;
the lowest percent is in Italy and Spain with 20% and 22%.
 The highest percentages of mothers looking for a job are in Hungary, Spain and Italy.
Fig. 21: And, in reality, what is your daily life schedule like?
N=530 (Hungary)
N = 1,160 (Spain)
N= 2,566 (France)
N = 192 (Sweden)
Number of Children and Time Use
Figure 22 reports a comparison of preferences expressed by as a function of the number of
children they actually have. Mothers with 1 or 2 children show a slightly higher preference to
work full-time with 15% and 13% respectively. On the contrary, mothers with 3, 4 or 5 children
express a preference for homecare with 27%, 35% and 56% respectively.
In reality, the number of children makes a big difference: mothers with 3 or more children are
half as likely to work full-time and twice as likely to be home for full-time care of the family. The
threshold appears to be when passing from 2 to 3 children.
27
Fig. 22: Impact of number of children and time use
N = 10,142 for theory graph — N = 9,938 for reality graph
As shown on the graphs in Figure 22, a mother’s expressed preference when responding ‘in
theory’ is relatively little affected by the number of children she has. But in reality the number
of children she has makes a very big difference in how she allocates her time between
employment and family.
Satisfaction with time use: Figures 23 and 24 relate satisfaction with employment schedule, with
Figure 24 introducing the number of a mothers actual children as a variable. Figure 24 shows
that with regard to their present work/life balance approximately a third of mothers are very
satisfied, and another half are satisfied. About 20% are not satisfied with their current situation.
Further breakdowns of responses were studied. These revealed the following points:



On a regional-level, 45% of mothers in the Nordic countries say they are very satisfied.
See Fig. 21 to view actual time use.
On the contrary, in the Southern and Eastern regions, more than 25% of mothers
reported dissatisfaction with their current time use of our respondents. In Hungary, 10%
are very dissatisfied.
The most satisfied mothers are by far the ones between 56 and 70. (They are out of the
« rush hour » of motherhood.)
28



On the contrary the very young mothers (19-25) include strong opposites. Nearly 40%
are VERY satisfied mothers, while also 6% are VERY unsatisfied.
Mothers on maternity or parental leave and stay-at-home mothers are more likely to be
satisfied, followed closely by self-employed mothers. Those working full-time report
lower levels of satisfaction than those working part-time.
Mothers who are in a partner relationship are more likely to be satisfied than single,
divorced or separated mothers.
Fig.23: How do you rate your current work schedule?
Fig. 24: How do you rate your current work schedule?
To obtain a better understanding of reasons for dissatisfaction, an open response question was
placed in the survey questionnaire three weeks after the start of data collection. From that date
forward, those who expressed lack of satisfaction were asked to explain why they were not
satisfied with their current time use.
29
A total of 1025 explanations of sources of dissatisfaction were received and classified.






The graph (Fig. 25) below shows that the majority (41%) just lack enough time to
manage their life in general and balance both their work and family life. That brings
dissatisfaction, stress and overtiredness.
Fifteen percent are dissatisfied because they are unable to find the appropriate work
that fits their time, salary and qualification requirements.
Fourteen percent have responded by sharing their desires for alternative time use
arrangements, especially for part-time work or full-time family care.
The financial reasons (11%) were especially brought up by single mothers.
Seven percent stated being dissatisfied with their current hour schedule or the work
distance that is too far from home.
A small proportion of messages from stay-at-home mothers say dissatisfaction with
their time use is due to not feeling adequately recognized for their efforts. Others
attribute dissatisfaction to difficulties to find appropriate daycare solutions.
Fig. 25: Classification of spontaneous explanations of causes of dissatisfaction with current time use
*More than half of them desire to take care full-time of their families.
Here are some examples drawn from the 1025 explanations received. These highly poignant
expressions are given in their original language.
 “C’est difficile de trouver un emploi permettant de tout concilier… les employeurs
considèrent le temps partiel seulement pour des emplois non-qualifiés et subalternes”.
 “Je suis exploitante agricole, enceinte de notre 4ième enfant, et suis oblige de suivre une
formation agricole pour adulte, et j’ai aussi la maison à tenir puisque je n’ai droit à aucune
aide avec la MSA. C’est trop ! Je suis épuisée….”
 “I went back to work recently. I had requested a specific timetable and my boss said they
could not accommodate because they are a small company and what I requested does not
suit their business purposes. So I had to go back to work on a timetable that does not suit
our family life! I would have not wanted to return to work until my son is of school age.
30








However, there are no specific benefits for mothers who choose to stay at home and take
care of their children, even when they are, effectively, forming citizens. The British
government does not seem to see the work a mother does at home as deserving of
payment. Instead it pays in full for my son's childcare so I can go back to a job where I earn
a wage so low it barely pays for my travel expenses. It's ridiculous!!”
« ….La pauvreté ça touche surtout les femmes et les enfants de ces femmes. Pourquoi faut il
choisir entre une situation professionnelle et une vie familiale ? Pourquoi se retrouve t-on du
jour au lendemain en dessous du seuil de pauvreté quand on a fait le choix des enfants ? »
« Je ne travaille pas et un contact social me manque. J'ai choisi de m'occuper à plein temps
de mes enfants car je n'ai pas trouvé de travail satisfaisant tant au niveau de
l'aménagement d'horaires qu'au niveau de l'intérêt du travail (j'ai eu un travail à mi-temps,
qui était mal vu et mal ressenti dans l'entreprise, j'ai perdu toutes mes responsabilités et
bon nombre de la gestion de mes dossiers à cause du temps partiel.) »
« Après avoir arrêté mon travail pour m'occuper de ma famille ( mari et enfants), je suis
inscrite à Pôle Emploi sans indemnités et sans espoir de retrouver un jour du travail
rémunéré. / Les mères au foyer sont quantité négligeable et donc négligée. Si la valeur
d'une personne dépend de son salaire comme il est admis communément, il est facile de
calculer la nôtre: zéro. / On vante la réussite des " super mères" en oubliant que d'autres
personnes qu'elles préfèrent payer s'occupent de leurs enfants en leur absence. / J'ai la
chance d'avoir "encore " un mari qui ne m'a jamais reproché mon choix. / Je conseille à mes
3 filles de ne jamais s'arrêter dans le cas où elles auraient des enfants car leur niveau
d'études (HEC, Supélec, ENSTA) leur assurera leur indépendance financière. »
“M'occuper de ma famille me procure une joie immense mais je suis également très active
au sein du monde associatif et cette activité n'est pas vraiment reconnu dans la société et
sur les formulaires, car à défaut d'être salarié, tu ne peux pas mettre en valeur cette partie
de mon temps et je me trouve entrain de cocher toujours la case mère au foyer. ce qui est
un honneur mais sur ce point là la société ne valorise pas cette dimension. »
“While it is perfectly possible for me to work effectively from home, my employer is very
reluctant to allow me to do this. If I could work from home regularly this would improve my
and my family's quality of life dramatically.”
« Bonjour, / Je trouve que le débat autour de travail à l'extérieur et s'occuper de sa famille
manque une donnée extérieure qui est le rôle social de la femme qui ne travaille pas de
façon rémunérée et qui a du temps bénévole/gratuit à offrir à des voisins, proches,
associations, en dehors de ses enfants. / Pour ma situation personnelle, je travaille sur les
horaires scolaires de mes enfants que je retrouve donc lorsqu'ils sortent de l'école. Mais
outre la fatigue, je n'ai plus de temps pour rendre service à ceux qui en auraient besoin
autour de moi (comme prendre le temps de téléphoner à des personnes isolées qui ont
besoin de parler, dépanner des voisins qui ne peuvent pas sortir de chez eux, préparer des
repas pour des personnes malades ou très fatiguées, bref rendre des menus services sans
valeur marchande mais qui créent un lien social, qui facilitent la vie quotidienne et
remettent de l'espérance et de la fraternité dans la société. »
« Travaillant à temps partiel je suis pénalisée dans ma progression en terme de
responsabilités et en terme de salaire »
« Si j'avais un salaire en tant que mère au foyer, je préfèrerai m'occuper de mes enfants car
je réalise que c'est ce qui manque le plus à la jeune génération souvent trop délaissée et
plus j'avance en âge plus je réalise combien la présence de la mère à la maison est source de
cadre et d'attention.... Je ne passe plus assez de temps avec mes enfants hors c'est lorsqu'ils
sont encore à la maison que l'on peut vraiment semer pour l'avenir. »
31
 « De kinderen moeten veel te vroeg uit hun bed om mee te draaien in de mallemolen van
een tweeverdienersgezin! De tijd met de kinderen is veel te kort om hen de nodige waarden
en normen mee te geven zoals wij die van onze moeders gekregen hebben. / Een
thuisblijvende moeder moet ook een vergoeding krijgen voor haar "werk". Mensen die niet
gaan werken, krijgen een leefloon, maar een thuisblijvende moeder krijgt niks, zelfs niet het
nodige respect voor wat ze allemaal doet ! »
 « J'ai commencé à travailler à 47 ans après avoir été mère à temps plein : j'ai repris des
études à 40 ans, sans aucune aide financière de l'Etat ou autre, j'ai difficilement trouvé un
employeur (pas d'expérience projet je travaille comme formateur vacataire, par CDD de
quelques heures, suivant les besoins du centre de formation. Il y a un prévisionnel de
formation qui peut avoir lieu ou pas, suivant le nb d'inscrits. Je réserve des jours qui peuvent
ne pas être utilisés et je me retrouve sans contrat. Cela s'appelle la précarité. »
 « Je suis en permanence en train de courir dans les transports afin d'arriver à concilier vie
professionnelle et vie privée. »
On a country-level
In Germany, 1 out of 5 mothers mentioned problems finding appropriate daycare solutions that
are flexible and affordable.
In Spain, daily working schedules are reported as being discontinuous (due to long lunch hours)
and difficult to match with family life. Nearly one of two Spanish mothers, in their explanation of
dissatisfaction, expressed their desire to be present full-time to care for their small children, to
find part-time work compatible with family responsibilities, or to find employment that did not
require working two shifts with long lunch breaks in between.
Some examples of the above, translated into French:
 A mother in Spain says : « Il n'existe pas de flexibilité dans les horaires, si les enfant sont
malades, on ne peut pas rentrer et travailler chez soi. Ce sont trop d'heures passées hors de
la maison qui obligent à chercher une crèche et quelqu'un de responsable à la maison. »
 Another mother in Spain comments : « Je préfèrerai l'horaire continu, mais seulement le
matin quand les enfants sont à l'école et rester à la maison l'après midi pour être avec les
enfants et pour avoir du temps libre. Je trouve très intéressant de valoriser un travail par les
objectifs et non par le temps passé au travail. »
 Yet another mother in Spain « Je pense que les premières années de la vie de l'enfant
doivent être confiées aux parents et pas à des crèches. En Espagne, il n'y a pas beaucoup de
choix pour pouvoir exercer comme maman à temps complet sans se sentir coupable de ne
pas avoir un travail rémunéré. Je trouve que le rôle de la mère dans ces étapes du
développement est vital pour une bonne croissance émotionnelle et mentale de l'enfant. »
 A mother in Germany says : „Karrierechancen hat nur, wer 45+ Stunden pro Woche arbeitet
("Präsenzzwang"); keine Möglichkeit, Arbeit auch zu Hause zu erledigen, obwohl das
möglich wäre. Zu wenig Zeit für die Familie. Finanzieller Gewinn Vollzeit musste, als das Kind
klein war,für Betreuung; jetzt für Haushalts- und Nachhilfe ausgegeben werden. Trotzdem
kommt man im Job nicht weiter, weil Männer und kinderlose Frauen locker von 8:00 bis
20:00 arbeiten, egal wie ineffizient! Teilzeitjobs in meinem Beruf sind anspruchslos und
langweilig, dazu schlecht bezahlt, also keine Option. » [French translation: « Faire carrière
n'est possible qu'a partir d'un pensum de 45+ heures par semaine (contrainte de présence);
32
pas de possibilité de faire du travail a la maison, même si cela serait possible. Trop peu de
temps pour la famille. Le salaire d'un temps plein était dépensé pour le gardiennage quand
l'enfant était petit; maintenant l'argent passe pour le ménage et les cours particuliers.
Malgré cela, on n'avance pas dans le job car les hommes et les femmes sans enfant peuvent
travailler sans problèmes de 8 a 20.00 heures, même si ils sont inefficaces! Les mi temps
dans mon métier ne sont pas exigeants, sont ennuyeux, en plus mal payés, donc pas
d'alternative. »
33
9. Key policy messages: When mothers are given a voice, what will they say to
policymakers?
At the end of the survey, a significant open question asked what message the respondent would
like to send to policy makers. Over 7000 mothers responded, many at great length and with
evident emotion. Clearly, mothers were motivated by the opportunity to send a message which
they hoped would be heard.
Classifaction of Policy Messages:
A sample of 6860 comments were treated by a group of in-country volunteers who read the
comments written in their mother tongue. It was observed that a typical mother’s comment
often included several distinct messages. The volunteers identified the messages in each
comment then classified the messages using a uniform classification grid. The classification grid
included 12 macro-categories and 46 micro-categories developed heuristically through study of
the first 500 responses received. In addition to identifying the messages and categorizing them,
the volunteers also selected a few of the most representative and relevant messages in each
category and translated them into English for this report.
Trends:
Fig 26 summarises the frequency
of messages coded by category.
The most frequently recurring
message category is related to
work/life balance.
Nearly one third (30%) of
responding mothers sent a
message about work/family life
balance. Roughly another third of
mothers sent messages about
“Support
of
stay-at-home
parents and Choice of Child
care”20. The remaining third of
messages concerned “Support of
families/parents” (14%) and less
recurring topics (less than 4%
each) related to “Relationships”,
“Education/schools”,
“Gender
equality” and “Diversity”.
Fig. 26: Macro-categories of political messages brought forward by
respondents to European policy makers
CATEGORY
# of
%
mentions
WORK/FAMILY LIFE BALANCE
2652
30%
SUPPORT STAY-AT-HOME
PARENTS*
1150
13%
FINANCIAL SUPPORT*
1152
13%
SUPPORT FAMILIES
974
11%
CHOICE*
866
10%
MISCELLANEOUS
765
9%
SUPPORT PARENTS
311
3%
VALUES/RESPONSIBILITY
360
4%
RELATIONSHIP
275
3%
EDUCATION – SCHOOLS
245
3%
GENDER EQUALITY
167
2%
24
0%
DIVERSITY
*The “Support Stay-at-home parents” represents actually 30% if you include the
The
results
reported
are
“Choice” category that mainly consists of the possibility of choice for
suggestive. Further analysis using
childcare before school and make it financially possible that parents take care of
their children. Half of the “Financial Support” category consists of having an
more sophisticated methods of
allocation/pension for stay-at-home mother/father.
identifying message themes
should be used to more fully
reflect the value of this trove of information on mothers’ concerns and priorities.
20
The “Choice” category mainly consists of the possibility of choice for childcare before school and make
it financially possible that parents take care of their own children. Half of the “Financial Support” category
consists of having an allocation/pension for stay-at-home mother/father.
34
Fig. 27: Survey of Mothers in Europe; Macro-categories of political messages brought forward by respondents by country to European policy makers.
Category
GRAND TOTAL
TOTAL
%
France
TOTAL
8942 100%
France
%
Belgium
TOTAL
Belgi
um %
2215 100%
2247
100
%
SUPPORT FAMILIES
974
11%
252
11%
SUPPORT PARENTS
360
4%
105
5%
1150
13%
484
866
10%
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
1152
WORK/LIFE BALANCE
Hunga
ry %
Swede
n
TOTAL
913 100%
Swede
n%
456 100%
Spain
TOTAL
Spain
%
1630 100%
Slovaki Slovaki Italy
a
a%
TOTAL
TOTAL
342 100%
Italy %
522 100%
Finlan
d
TOTAL
Finlan
d%
106 100%
UK
TOTAL
UK %
511 100%
95
10%
66
14%
96
6%
86
25%
80
15%
20
19%
62
12%
4%
17
2%
33
7%
38
2%
21
6%
17
3%
0
0%
32
6%
22%
223 10%
84
9%
45
10%
114
7%
31
9%
26
5%
11
10%
132
26%
175
8%
321 14%
31
3%
123
27%
132
8%
9
3%
39
7%
14
13%
22
4%
13%
302
14%
378 17%
142
16%
58
13%
50
3%
75
22%
54
10%
34
32%
59
12%
2652
30%
497
22%
607 27%
364
40%
69
15%
845
52%
24
7%
179
34%
18
17%
49
10%
GENDER EQUALITY
167
2%
40
2%
33
1%
21
2%
0
0%
47
3%
3
1%
14
3%
5
5%
4
1%
EDUCATION - SCHOOLS
245
3%
76
3%
83
4%
14
2%
18
4%
13
1%
5
1%
7
1%
0
0%
29
6%
VALUES/RESPONSIBILITY
311
3%
47
2%
83
4%
31
3%
8
2%
66
4%
34
10%
10
2%
0
0%
32
6%
RELATIONSHIP
275
3%
63
3%
11
0%
19
2%
35
8%
72
4%
15
4%
3
1%
0
0%
57
11%
25
0%
3
0%
4
0%
6
1%
0
0%
1
0%
0
0%
4
1%
0
0%
7
1%
765
9%
171
8%
190
8%
89
10%
1
0%
156
10%
39
11%
89
17%
4
4%
26
5%
SUPPORT STAY-AT-HOME
PARENTS
CHOICE
DIVERSITY
MISCELLANEOUS
217 10%
Hunga
ry
TOTAL
97
1st
2nd
3rd
35
On a country-level, we see that work/family life balance is the dominant concern among our
Spanish (52%) and Hungarian respondents (40%). This concern is also the issue most
frequently expressed in Italy (33%), Belgium (28%), and France (27%).
Fig. 28: Work/Family life Balance Micro-Categories of political messages brought forward by
respondents to European policy makers
WORK/FAMILY LIFE BALANCE MICRO-CATEGORIES
Increase maternity/parental leaves
Balance between work and education of children
More flexibility
Possibility and choice to work part-time
Enough time for parents to be with their children
More daycare solutions and better adapted to the live of the
parents *
More work and better working conditions
Telecommute
Increase # of days off for holiday and sick children
TOTAL
#
of
mentions
577
488
449
337
272
241
%
136
94
58
2652
5%
4%
2%
30%
22%
18%
17%
13%
10%
9%
*More and better daycare solutions was also mentioned and classified in other macro-categories.
In Spain, half of the respondents proposed work/life balance solutions. More specifically
related to a “better balance between work and education of children/having enough time
for parents to be with their children” (394 messages) and “an increase in
maternity/parental leave” (278 messages).
 “It is very necessary that measures be adopted since before in Spain, we had the support
of our mothers that took care of our children so that we could go to work. But who will
help our daughters take care of their children?”
 “The education that our children receive will be crucial for the future of the world and it
is important that these children can have enough time with their mother and father.”
 “Working hours need to correspond to the European ones, more compact and with less
time to eat. Also, the work hours do not correlate with school hours, the academic
holidays do not correspond to the labour ones.
 “It should be the parents who adapt to their children, and not them to their parents,
(longer hours in nurseries, more extra-curricular activities…) In short, adapt the parents’
timetables to their children’s, instead of the other way around.”
 “Go deeper into the problem, work-life balance should go beyond the simple fact that it
can be profitable for companies. It’s the welfare of our society that’s at stake. To bring
our children up to be generous beings, capable of effort, united, oriented towards the
future, without frustration and with energy to unify people and to care for life, we must
take care of the families from the beginning, for a healthy emotional health. We must
understand the human being and value life above money.”
 “For me, one of the important things is reconciliation. But to reconcile does not mean
that I have more places where I can leave my kids when I work (either in class, after
school or during the holidays). It means that we have enough options, flexibility in how to
work, so I can decide if my child will be taken care of or if I will take care of him.”
36
 “We need at least one year maternity leave, plus a leave of absence of a year keeping the
job. We do not want more day nurseries we want our children with their families.”
 “Extend the fact that men can also reduce the working day, to relieve women from the
fact their child is taken care of by a stranger and that the grandparents don’t carry the
entire responsibility to allow both parents to work.”
 “It is necessary to work on the equality of gender in every life-area. We’ve had
democracy for 30 years and there is still a lot of latent ‘machismo’.”
In Hungary, work/life balance-related messages are mentioned by 40% of the respondents.
34% (123 out 364) of those messages demand “better working conditions in general” like
more work, protection of the workplace, more family-friendly workplaces, higher salary for
fathers, which was often not even mentioned in many other countries. Like the other
countries, there is also a core demand for better recognition and support of families.
 “…To create jobs for the heads of families in order to feel themselves in security.”
 “More jobs are needed…”
 “Instead of social benefits create jobs where a father is able to earn so much money he
could be able to support even a big family”.
 “My message is that fathers (breadwinners) must have a monthly earning which is
enough to allow mothers to work only part-time.”
 “State child-caring institutions are needed which are suitable also for single mothers
who are obliged to work even in the night and they can leave their children there during
the night.”
 “ … The improvement of the quality of day-care institutions is essential.”
 “ Foster an evolution in the ambiance in the society in which the families (father, mother
and children) are able to fulfill their roles and where to having children is not a heroic
sacrifice because the common charges are proportionally distributed.”
 “Consider families and children as essential communities to be protected and who serve
the common good of the society. Give them the possibility to choose which is the best
way for them to live and manage their daily life and work. Recognise the burden they
bear by educating children.”
 “Consider the family as a value and support improvement of the quality of family life by
taking the family as a unit.”
In Italy, the top two demands in work/family life balance were more “flexibility” (41
messages), “more opportunities for part-time work” (41 messages, usually paired with
more flexible and accountable services) and the respect of the rights and competences of
working mothers. An equivalent number (42) messages were also linked to a more familyfriendly taxation system.
 “Imagine you are woman willing to work, to improve yourself, and at the same time
willing to be a mother. The priority consists in changing the working model: flexibility in
working hours, exact job description, fixed salary and bonuses on reached goals, Health
Insurance, Childcare centers at the workplaces…”
 “A better protection for working mothers, with more part-time jobs (I couldn’t obtain a
part-time job!)”
 “Flexibility, part-time jobs, tax cuts on part-time jobs”
37
 “Part-time should become convenient to employers, and so we need laws in order to
make it convenient. Two part-time jobs should cost less than a full-time job!”
 “Children are the future of our society; families have to be helped in giving birth and
raising children. Particular attention should be given to mothers, with laws protecting
their work and their salary.”
 “A Family-friendly taxation system is needed, and more equity in payments and public
spending. Unfortunately, politicians don’t understand that enabling families to spend
money will help the recovery of the economic system.”
 “Helping families: Crèches and Baby-sitters should be deducted from taxes.“
 “A Family-friendly taxation system, a social policy and different working conditions are
necessary to help families.”
 “Consider the Family as a resource for the entire society, and therefore: real Family
Policies, more crèches, flexible working hours for those willing to balance work and
family life (part-time, telecommute, flexible hours…), a Family-friendly taxation system.”
 “Adopting a taxation system considering not the individual, but the family
(couple+children+other dependent members), and considering children as persons totally
in charge of the family (like the French quotient familial)”
In Belgium, while many surveyed mothers did ask for an increase in maternity/parental
leaves and more flexibility within the “work/family life balance category”, the most
insistently demanded action was for a specific temporary allocation for stay-at-home
parents (221 demands). Also in Sweden, fully 21% of the messages asked spontaneously for
a similar allocation) and there were 142 calls for a better recognition of the role of stay-athome parents.

“Revalue the status of home maker whether permanent or temporary (maternity leave,
parental leave, career break,…)/the revaluation comes with better financial
remuneration (I find it abject that people who are voluntarily unemployed earn more
that a mother who takes 1 month of parental leave!!!)“
 “Give mothers a reasonable status so that the ones who choose for maternity don’t have
to choose between overtiredness (burnout?) or the beggar's staff!!!”
 “It’s important that working hours are not too long; make it easier to finish work earlier
to pick up children in school. This concerns both men and women, both of us are
responsible for our children »
 “It is now sometimes a punishment to have children for several reasons: /unfindable
daycare centers with impossible opening hours (ex: from 7u.0 till 17.ur, if you live in
Flemish Brabant or East-Flanders and work in Brussels – it does not leave you time to
perform your work hours). / We should have at least, like in Luxembourg, a year of
maternity leave, without problems. Also the additional parental leave must become more
important. Nowadays, it’s like you give birth to children who are raised by others. I do
not say that I entirely and definitely would like to stop working; I don’t think I could do
that; but there should be the possibility to spend more time with your children, without
financial repercussions. / Children are our future, we always speak about the
demographic ageing etc, but you could now become frightened to start having children.
/Make work of working mothers and their children! Give them quality time without they
have to ‘beg’ for it.”
38
 « To be able to reconcile school and work hours, at least till the children are 12 years old :
8 or 9 weeks of holidays when we only have 2 or 3 weeks leaves a lot of weeks were one
needs to «scramble to place children either in camps or with the family. It’s sometimes
an organisational nightmare to cover the whole period./ Have better and more childcare
structures to welcome sick children. To wake up in the morning and to realise that your
child has fever and that he won’t be able to go to daycare or to school is at least half a
day of vacation consumed. How many times have I not heard that the first home nurse
would be become available only in 3 days!”
In France, the “work/life balance” issue was also brought forward by many French mothers (.
One aspect in particular that caught our attention is the 137 messages asking for “more
daycare solutions that are better adapted to the life of parents”. Another 152 messages
asked for the possibility to choose freely between outsourced or in-family care. For example,
they say:
 «Improve the childcare system ; there are not enough places and the opening hours are
not convenient »»
 “…daycare in companies… »
 « That the working hours of mothers match those of the children and that mothers can
take time off that is equivalent to the school holidays »

«Improve the childcare system for preschool children »
In certain countries the issue of work/life balance is not highly mentioned: Slovakia (4%), UK
(10%), Sweden (15%), and Finland (16%).
In Slovakia, the main message that respondents want to pass to policymakers is linked to
support and recognition of families/parents with 31% (which is MUCH higher than the
European average of 15%). Examples of quotes from Slovakia on this topic are:
 « A honest family = a honest citizen. A supported family = a supported society. A
cultivated family=a cultivated citizen.»
 “I regret that it is the family that is actually marginalised in our society.»
 «Protect the family as a fundamental unit of society in all aspects. »
 « All positive ’investments in family not only help the family itself, but also the whole
society will benefit from it (which will be multiplied).»
 “More respect for families with several children; they are the future of our society. One
has to improve their life conditions.”
 « If you don’t have strong families, you won’t have anything. »
 « Think about all the children, couples, elderly as if it were yourself » «Improve family
policy – everything that we invest in our children will be reimbursed by our future
generations. »
In the UK, the main demand from respondents to policy makers is to support the stay-athome parents (over 30%). Another particularity from the English respondents is the aboveaverage proportion of messages (11% versus 3% average) related to the importance of
stable relationships, and in particular, the value of marriage as an institution. (To note, the
UK is the country with by far the highest number of married and older mothers among
respondents to the survey). Examples of quotes are:
39
 “Love each other / forgive each other / respect each other / stick together.”
 “Marriage is what the family is about. A child needs a mother & a father who are
committed to each other for life.”
 “To realise that our happiness comes from dependable relationships and not from the
work that we do.”
 "Stop penalising us. Wake up to the reality of every survey ever which tells you clearly
that children flourish with 2 parents of different sexes that are married for the long term.
Equal does not mean identical so stop pandering to minorities as if it does. Different is
different and usually it is not better even though there may be admirable individuals
involved. Support, promote, encourage and reward 2-parent families who put in the
effort to build and stay that way. “
 “Provide relationship and parenting courses and help for those who are struggling including those in a stepfamily. Research shows that marriage is the most stable form of
family in which to raise children - so promote marriage.”
In Sweden, of the 456 different messages, 113 or 25% were directly linked to a claim for
choice of childcare before school and for making it financially possible for parents to take
care on their own children instead of sending them to daycare.
 “...Give us freedom of choice to stay at home with our children. We, the parents, have
the right of decision over our children. Give us financial conditions to take care of our
children and live on one salary”
 ”...Give all children the right to stay at home for AT LEAST 3 years… Let us as parents
choose ourselves who of us will stay at home with our children. Give us parents the right
to choose childcare and the number of hours our children will be there when we choose
to start working.”
 “Let us have the right to choose ourselves. We are intelligent adults and more often than
not capable of making the right decisions for our own family. … Surely it is for us to
decide who is most suitable to take care of our infants? The state may well have a good
child care system but we who choose alternative care should not be punished for it. Stayat-home moms are looked on as strange in our Swedish society. The most obvious and
natural thing for a mother is to want to take care of her children – society is
reprogramming us to think otherwise. What is the point of having children if you have to
leave them at day care from seven in the morning to five at night and have others raise
them?”
 “In the 1950s it was difficult for women to choose a career of their own, because they
were supposed to stay at home with their family. Women are still as incapacitated as in
the 1950s when it comes to making her own choices, she is more or less forced to walk
the road set up for her by society.”
 “...I feel trapped in a feministic crusade, where I and my free will… do not exist… To
increase the wellbeing of my family I would need to make better use of the little time I
have with my children by being a full-time mother at home. I am young. I can work
outside our home when they get older! Right now I miss out on their childhood, and their
picture of mom is a stressed-out woman who does not prioritise them...but goes to
work...SIGH!!!”
40

“Freedom in childcare. No child under the age of 3 should be left in day-care with many
caretakers. No child psychologist recommends that.”
In Finland, 34 of the total 105 policy messages (or 32%) fell within the “Financial support”
category. More specifically, 23 of them were claims for an allocation for stay-at-home
parents (mother or father).
 “One sum per child in order to make the choice to take care of our children ourselves or
not…to take or not till the child is 18 years of age by the mother or the father. (Belgium)
 “Support to child-care at home (economic and mental), resources for the children’s
wellbeing. Smaller group-sizes for day-care and schools”
 « ….allowance for “under-school age child”; salary like “temporary teacher/carer »
(France)
 « More money to a mother who is taking care of children at home until he/she is three
years old”
 “Better possibilities to stay at home for fathers in a way that takes into account equally
different kinds of jobs, e.g. entrepreneurship”
Finally, in the “Miscellaneous” macro-category, we can find very diverse messages that did
not fit into the other categories. These messages were linked to difficulties of single
mothers, sex education, pornography, homeschooling, education for parenthood, the media,
alcohol and drugs, “assisting” spouses, misrepresentation of women and the family in the
media. In Spain, 38 messages pled for policy makers to listen to them and show
understanding of mothers’ situation.
41
The Single Mother: A Case Study
This case study provides a brief comparative snapshot of questionnaire responses received
from single mothers.
Nearly 1500 (or 13%) of the responding mothers reported being single. The majority of
them are divorced or separated. About 1 out of 4 reported being never to have been
married or not living with a partner. Something more than 10% are widows.21
How do single mothers compare with mothers who are married/live in couple in our survey

Slightly older: 46% are between 41-55 yrs old, 32% are between 26-40, 20% are
above 56


Less educated: 23% only secondary vs 13%
Much more likely to work full time with 48%(!) vs 26%


30% have a part-time work, same as the married/living in couple mothers
Twice more likely to be unemployed (12% vs 6%) or self-employed, 10% stay at
home vs 36%
Majority wants to work part-time 63% (like the married
mothers), but they tend to have a higher preference to
work full-time (with 26% vs 9%)
Slightly less likely to be satisfied with their current time
use (75% vs 82%)
Slightly more likely to live in the city







More likely to have an immigration background (14% vs 10%)
Slightly less likely to volunteer (still 51% report that they do volunteer! but less in
schools)
Muck more likely to be unsatisfied about their life in general (16% vs 5%)
One out of 3 say they experience a difficult to very difficult family situation versus
8% (less than 1 out of 10): one of two mothers say it is due to the
separation/divorce, followed by financial problems, solitude (on a side note: these
mothers are twice as likely to be LESS depressed than married mothers though)

Tend to have more difficulties in their relationship with their children (7% vs 2%)

Are twice more likely to say having adequate lodging and finances as very important
factors for their relationship with their children
Single Mother Transition to motherhood
There is an agreement from all surveyed mothers, single or otherwise, that the transition to
motherhood is a huge responsibility, a huge challenge for which mothers sometimes feel
little prepared, but above all incredibly rewarding and worth everything it costs.
21
Out of the 11,887 unique respondents to our survey, 1,488 are single mothers (25% separated, 41% divorced,
22% single, 13% widow).
42
When asked “If you could launch a message to the political world in order to increase the
family’s well-being, what would it be?”, nearly 1000 of these 1500 single mothers
responded, often at length. Half have been read and categorized. Here is what they said:
The most frequently recurring spontaneous messages were:

210 related directly to reconciling work and family life.
o
59 mentions of CHOICE between paid work and family care and more TIME
for family care.
o
44 mentions of more and better daycare solutions (eg: daycare at work).
o
24 mentions of more flexibility (includes telecommuting).
o
24 mentions of more possibilities to work part-time or jobshares (for men
too).
o
21 mentions of better synchronization between work hours and school
hours and holidays.

o
13 mentions of longer maternity/parental leaves.
o
7 mentions on ways to improve the “re-entrance in the labor market.”
122 related directly to recognizing the role of stay-at-home parents.
o

60 messages asking for explicit stay-at-home allocation.
118 related to supporting families in general and/or parents and recognizing their
fundamental role in society in bringing up the next generation of responsible
citizens, in prevention of delinquency, etc.
o

34 messages related to the importance of the mother’s role in general.
93 related to gender equality (higher percentage than other respondents of the
survey).
o
45 mentions of more equality between men and women at work, especially
in salary and access to work.
o
22 mentions of involving fathers more.
o
9 mentions asserting the specificity and complementarity, and necessity of
mother and father roles in the family.
o

5 mentions of equal share of tasks.
50 related to divorce (including shared custody, a topic reflecting much controversy:
better justice and follow-up.)

42 related to school education
o
24 asked explicitely for parenting and citizenship courses for adults.

41 related to listening to parents AND children

34 related to directly to helping, supporting and recognizing single mothers

30 miscelleaneous

23 related to violence: banish violence

15 related on importance and helping families stay together

11 related to housing

10 related to media
43
Some quotes:

“Being a parent is the most important and difficult job. And yet, parents are left on their own,
amongst huge difficulties.”

“Aidez les mères à être de bonnes mères disponibles pour leurs enfants tout en leur permettant
de réaliser d'autres désirs professionnels, c'est cet équilibre qui construira la société équilibrée de
demain. Arrêtez de prôner la séparation des méres et des enfants petits car c'est ça qui détruira
la société de demain. »

« … Ne négligeons pas la priorité qui est d'éduquer nos enfants pour en faire des adultes
responsables. »

« Les enfants sont l'avenir politique et économique de chaque pays, c'est pourquoi il faut aider les
mamans à les faire grandir correctement. Avant 3 ans un enfant a besoin de sa maman, lorsqu'il
rentre de l'école l'enfant a besoin d'une oreille disponible, enfin comment faire évoluer une
société égoïste et matérialiste si dès leur plus jeune âge les enfants grandissent seuls avec la
télé? »

“… There should be flexibility in the work place for school hours and school holidays however it is
important that both employers and employees without children should not be penalised for
having to provide for parents' absences and flexibility.”

« 1/ améliorer la condition de la femme et surtout sa condition de mère. / 2/ ne pas restreindre
ses droits (exemple sa pension) quand elle a fait le choix de rester auprès des enfants / 3/
favoriser sa réintégration dans le monde du travail quand elle a fait une pause carrière / 4/ tenir
compte de ces années passées auprès des enfants dans l'évolution de sa carrière. »

« …Comment donner de l'amour à un enfant si l'on est obligée de le placer plutôt que de pouvoir
s'en occuper soi-même. …»

« Avoir d'avantage une vision à long terme des problèmes et des solutions à y apporter. / /
Reconnaître que le TEMPS d'éducation et de soins (le care) consacré à sa famille a une VALEUR
ECONOMIQUE puisque c'est le même TRAVAIL que celui effectué par les "professionnel(le)s de la
petite enfance ou des personnes âgées". … »

« De prendre conscience de l'importance du travail de CARE, lorsque l'on voit tous les problèmes
de société, des jeunes ado, face à l'alcool, la drogue, à la solitude, déjà dans le primaire, combien
d'enfants n'ont-ils pas une clé qui pende à leur cou. Personne pour les accueillir après l'école, la
tv, le PC et autres les empêche de faire les devoirs, il suffit de voir les problèmes de redoublement
en primaire!!! Donner le libre choix aux femmes qui estiment que le travail familial à autant de
valeur qu'un travail effectué en dehors de chez soi, sauf que ce travail donne un sentiment
d'humanité au monde. »

« Concilier les sphères publiques (profession, politique, activités sociales ... ) avec la sphère privée
et familiale. / En tant que mère, notre implication dans la vie sociale est souvent compliquée.
Nos hommes qui souhaiteraient vivre plus proches de leurs enfants ne sont pas biens compris non
plus. / Tant que les hommes qui s'intéressent vraiment à leurs enfants ne seront pas mieux
compris, nous aurons, nous les femmes des difficultés à accéder aussi librement qu'eux aux
activités sociales et professionnelles. »

« De pouvoir adapter les horaires de travail, des solutions pour avoir du temps pour ses enfants
tout en gardant sa rémunération, ne pas être pénalisée dans sa carrière car on a des enfants. »

« Des milieux d'accueil en nombre suffisant, non seulement pour les 0-3 ans, mais aussi pour les
heures extra-scolaires.
Des campagnes pour responsabiliser les pères dans les tâches
éducatives. »
44

« Changer le monde commence par changer la manière dont la société considère ses enfants. »

“Children need a full time parent”

« On ne fait pas d’économie sur l’éducation des enfants qui seront la société de demain. »

« Ecoutez plus nos enfants »

« Prendre un peu plus en compte le bien être des enfants, et non le bien être des parents..... »

“…stages obligatoires avant d’être parent,… »

« Moins de perte de revenus quand on s’occupe de ses enfants à la maison. »

« Créer des crèches d’entreprises, inciter les entreprises à améliorer la flexibilité des horaires pour
gérer l’emploi du temps des enfants. »

« D'accorder plus de disponibilités aux mères pour leurs enfants (surtout enfants bas ages: 0 à
1an et ensuite 1an à 3ans) donc rallonger congés maternité et parentaux- Réouvrir l'API avec un
montant plus élevé. / Donner une prime aux entreprises qui embaucheraient des mamans à
temps partiels qui sortent de leurs congés maternités et/ou parentaux ainsi que ceux qui
embaucheraient des mamans "solos". »

« Donner des avantages aux femmes pour qu'elles puissent rester chez elle les premières années
de la vie de leurs enfants sans qu'elles ne se sentent pénalisées ou inférieures aux autres... »

« Donner la possibilité aux mères de pouvoir choisir de travailler ou non, de pouvoir élever ses
enfants ou les faire garder... / Pour celà que le rôle de la femme soit reconnu, valorisé et reçoive
une rémunération. Que ce qu'elle fait économiser à l'état lui soit bonifié... »

« Laisser aux mères le choix entre temps plein et temps partiel au-delà des trois ans de l'enfant,
sans perte de rémunération, et surtout dans le cas des mères élevant seules leur(s) enfant(s).
avoir accès à des solutions de grades d'enfants moins onéreuses et plus faciles d'accès,
notamment en cas d'enfant malade, de façon à pouvoir continuer l'activité professionnelle
lorsque la mère ne peut se retourner vers la famille ni se passer - financièrement - de cette
activité professionnelle. »

« Donner la possibilité aux mères d'un travail partiel calqué sur le rythme scolaire (ex un mitemps avec 4 jours par semaine et les vacances scolaires)ou le retour au travail de celles qui
souhaitent s'arreter entre 25 et 40 ans pour élever leurs enfants. »

BON Résumé : « Donnez-nous les moyens de faire des enfants. Prévoyez des solutions de garde
suffisantes pour tous les enfants (suffisamment de crèches et de garderie ouvertes toute l'année!)
/ Augmentez le temps de congé maternité et prévoyez un congé paternité. Favorisez dans tous
les domaines professionnels la possibilité de travailler à temps partiel, que ce soit pour les
femmes ou les hommes. / Prévoyez des salaires minimum, afin que tous puissent choisir de
travailler à temps partiel. / Mettez plus d'argent dans l'éducation avec la conscience que c'est un
investissement de longue durée (des enfants qui vont bien, qui sont élevés par leurs parents et
dans de bonnes conditions vont certainement être des adolescents et des adultes qui iront
mieux! »

« Mothers (and fathers) need to be able to stay at home when the child is under 3 and from then
on the possibility to work from home when the children are ill, be able to leave work when the
school finishes, and flexible hours around school holidays. What's the point of having children in
they will spend 9 to 6 in school and school clubs and the same during most of the holidays, all
family values deteriorate and die when there is hardly any contact between the family
members.”

« La société doit respecter la maternité. Il est absolument inadmissible que la carrière d'une
femme compétente soit bloquée parce qu'elle s'est arrêtée de travailler (quelques mois ou
quelques années) pour avoir des enfants et que les entreprises rendent la vie des femmes très
45
difficiles par des horaires peu flexibles ou des contraintes horaires (réunions tardives
incompatibles avec les horaires scolaires ou des garderies par exemple). »

“Mothers hold the future of society in their hands. They should be encouraged and treated with
respect. Being a full-time mother is as important as working for a paid job.”

“Reconnaissez le travail extraordinaire qu'effectuent les mères pour la société ! Aidez-les à
l'effectuer dans la sérénité. »

« Que la femme/mère puisse élever son enfant à la maison avec une aide adéquate du
gouvernement jusqu'à ce que l'enfant aille à l'école. Cela supprimerait le chômage des
femme/mères par une indemnité "enfant en bas-âge". En plus la femme pourrait se sentir
valoriser tout en restant à la maison, car elle aurait un salaire comme "éducatrice temporaire". »

« donner des moyens aux parents d’être parents »

« een kindervriendelijk werkmilieu »

« Des milieux d'accueil en nombre suffisant, non seulement pour les 0-3 ans, mais aussi pour les
heures extra-scolaires. …»

« …Des campagnes pour responsabiliser les pères dans les tâches éducatives. ….»

« …Je pense qu'il faut laisser plus de place aux hommes qui veulent s'investir dans la sphere
familiale(et pourquoi pas augmenter la durée du congé paternité) car je rencontre de plus en plus
d'hommes désireux de s'occuper de leurs enfants ! …»

« Diminuer le temps de travail des pères et mères (tous à mi temps) afin qu'ils soient en mesure
d'élever ensemble et alternativement leurs enfants. Les enfants ont besoin de leur mère ET de
leur père. …»

« Egalité salariale entre hommes et femmes et modulation du temps de travail sur toute la
carrière »

“Families are the foundation of every society. If they are weak the nation is weak. More support
is needed in every aspect of our society to make sure families of all types are secure and solid. All
children are born innocent and loving, it is only their upbringing and society in general that turn
them astray.”

“Family well-being should be the most important issue in the political agenda of the political
world. Sustaining families despite their form (two parents, single parents etc.) should be the
primary goal of the politicians because this is the way people are living - even if they are single
and live alone they are someone’s children and always belong to a family.”

« …L'équilibre de la société repose fondamentalement sur l'équilibre au sein des familles;
prévenir la délinquance passe par la reconnaissance de l'importance de l'éducation des enfants,
qui ne doit pas être considéré comme un mal nécessaire par les employeurs, mais comme une
richesse commune »

« Je suis convaincue qu'une grande partie des problèmes créé par la petite délinquence trouve
son origine dans l'éducation. Si les enfants étaient moins livrés à eux-même, si leurs parents
étaient plus présents, il y aurait moins de délinquence. Investir dans l'éducation des enfants par
l'école mais surtout par les parents, c'est faire un investissement à long terme. »

“Focus more on prevention policies with the family including education, screening and support”

« Accorder une garde alternée des enfants, non pas d'office comme actuellement mais après une
enquête extrêmement approfondie et réfléchie (Examen médical, âge des enfants, conditions de
logement, d'éducation, et surtout contrôle régulier et inopiné au domicile, à l'école etc...) Les
enfants ont leur mot à dire et ne peuvent pas se faire entendre. Un manque de regroupement des
organismes intéressés (Tout le monde est au courant mais seulement aucune réaction, on préfère
se cacher derrière le secret professionnel) Ils réagissent lorsqu'un drame arrive, sinon RIEN. »
46

“Permettre à tous les parents d'être plus disponible pour leurs enfants, laisser leur place aux
pères, la séparation du couple, lorsqu'elle intervient ne doit pas être la séparation de la famille, la
résidence alternée doit devenir la première solution et les comportements exclusifs de parents
doivent être plus sanctionnés, un enfant n'est pas un bien mais un être qui a besoin de ses deux
parents pour se construire. La monoparentalité porte de nombreux torts à la construction
psychique des enfants. »

«Preventie rond scheiding. betere begeleiding bij scheiding en nazorg voor gezinsleden.”
The Plight of the Single Mother
To conclude this brief study of single mothers, we see that even though life is more difficult
for the single mothers we surveyed than the ones who are married or in couple, their
concerns, opinions and recommendations to improve their wellbeing and the wellbeing of
their families do not differ significantly from all the other mothers.
Single mothers want more time to educate their children; they want to be able to choose
(and be enabled) to have a paid employment or to take care of their children at home when
they are small.
When their children are at school age, single mothers want to be able to choose for flexible
employment that is in synch with their children’s school hours or holiday periods.
Single mothers do not want to be sanctioned or penalized in the workforce because they are
a mother or a parent.
Single mothers want more and better day care solutions that are more adapted to their
work pattern.
Single mothers seek increased justice and respect as well as specific help and support with
regards to divorce and shared custody.
Single mothers often ask for more involvement of fathers at home and eradication of
violence.
While single mothers want their needs to be listened to, above all, they want their role and
work as parent to be better recognized as the pivotal element in raising responsible citizens
of tomorrow. They say healthy families are the foundation of a healthy society and investing
in families is a long-term investment.
47
Summary
The mothers with whom we have communicated think and care deeply about their lives as
mothers. For the vast majority of respondents, their identity as mother has become the
dominant element of their personal identity. And when they speak as mothers they want to
be taken seriously by policy makers.
Across all categories of mothers, we found many statements urging policy makers to
acknowledge that families with children are the future of our society and to consider the
multigenerational family as an essential resource for the entire society.
Among the key messages transmitted by the mothers with whom we have consulted are:
1. Insistence on the specificity of their role and identity as mothers: Responding
mothers share an awareness of being distinct from other women (according to
Eurofound EQLS, 76% of all women 18 years or more in Europe are mothers) and
can explain clearly their own transformation from woman to mother. This insistence
should surprise no one. Recent European studies cited in this report show a
consistent contrast in priorities, concerns, and perceptions between mothers and
non-mothers. This distinction is independent of the degree to which mothers
participate in the paid labour force. The distinction is not something that is present
only among native European mothers or mothers who are in happy marital
relationships or who may be pigeon-holed in of any other category system of
classification. The differences run deeper than cultural expectations and persist
across the full range of generations responding to the survey. Nor have ‘modern’ or
‘post-modern’ thinking of present generations effected a significant change.
2. A corollary of the above is that responding mothers see themselves not as generic
“parents” but as a specific type of parent, equal to, complementary to and distinct
from fathers, concerning whom mothers have certain clear expectations.
While there are some differences by country among the messages (to policymakers) of the
eight analysed countries, commonalities clearly overarch the differences. To highlight the
variety of mothers’ messages, we selected in this document a bit more than 100 quotes out
of the 6860 that were analysed. The top three themes dominate all national samples. These
are the three recurring themes:
Time: Respondent mothers clearly ask for measures that have a direct impact on their daily
life to improve their work/family life balance:
 Enough time to care for and rear their children (especially the younger mothers who
have children still at home)
 An increase in maternity and/or parental leaves
 More and better adapted daycare solutions including companies’ daycare centres
 More flexibility in their work schedule taking into consideration school hours and
holidays
 More possibilities and opportunities to work part-time
 More family-friendly companies
Choice: Surveyed mothers want a better recognition of the role of mothers and fathers who
decide to stay at home (part or full time) to take care of their children. They want to have an
economically-feasible choice between a outsourced care solution or a in-family care solution
enabling mother or father to take care of their under school-age children themselves.
48
Recognition: Respondent mothers want a better recognition of the importance of « family
care » and motherhood in society. They ask that families be recognized as a major resource
for the entire society and as a source of social cohesion. By caring and raising their children,
mothers and fathers are working for the future of our society.
Less recurring topics were related to « relationships », « education/schools », « Gender
equality » and « diversity ».
49
List of Questions of the “Survey of Mothers in Europe”
The following provides the list of questions posed during the survey. Please note that these
questions are not representative of the order they were presented to the respondents as
some questions were profile-specific (thus posed to a specific audience). This questionnaire
was translated in 10 languages.
Q: Welcome!
This survey has been prepared by the World Movement of Mothers, European delegation, (Mouvement Mondial
des Mères, délégation européene or MMM Europe).
The European Commission has initiated a research project, called FAMILY PLATFORM, to select topics for a
future research project on the well-being of families. The MMM has been invited to this platform to be the voice
of mothers and to accurately represent the mothers of Europe and express their priorities, challenges and
concerns. This is the reason for this questionnaire.
This questionnaire is ANONYMOUS and CONFIDENTIAL. It is made of about 25 questions about your CURRENT
life and should take about 15-20 minutes to complete.
This is an extraordinary opportunity to make the voice of mothers heard at the European level and to have a real
impact on future European policies that affects families.
Therefore, we thank you in advance for your support and help.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Q1: I am the mother of ...
Please indicate:
Age
Child 1
Child 2
Child 3
Child 4
Child 5
Q2: Do you have more than 5 children?
Yes
No
Q3:
Please precise:
Age
Child 6
Child 7
Child 8
Child 9
Child 10
Child 11
Q4: Do your children live with you?
Yes, always
Yes, sometimes
No, never
No, not anymore. They are independent now.
Q5: What situation best describes you?
Married
Single
Divorced
Separated
Remarried
Live in couple
Widower
Q6: Do you live in a "recomposed/blended" family?
50
Yes
No
Q7: Do the children of your partner live with you?
Yes, always
Yes, sometimes
No
1
2
3
4
5 and more
Q8: If you were talking to a woman who is pregnant with her first child, how would you describe what it's like
to transition into being a mother?
RETIREMENT
Q9: What plans have you made for retirement? Check any that apply.
Pension
Insurance
Savings
Investment in property
Other, please explain:
Q10: Regarding your retirement, what are your concerns? Check any that apply.
Health issues
Housing
Financial issues
Relationship with family
Q11: How do you spend or envision spending your time? Check any that apply.
Part-time work
Volunteer service
Help with family
Friends
Hobbies
Travel
Educational opportunities
Q12: When talking about retirement, what is your housing or would be your desire for housing?
I remain/want to remain in my own house or other independent housing as long as possible.
I have/want independent housing, but close to one of my children or extended family.
I live/would like to live with one of my children.
If I am/become infirm or unable to care for myself, I am/will go to a retirement facility because I do not want to
become a burden on my children.
Q13: How do you or will you provide for yourself? Check any that apply.
I have an employment and will have a pension for myself/ I benefit from my pension
I benefit/will benefit from my partner's pension.
I count on my savings.
SATISFACTION
Q14: In general, how satisfied are you of your current life as a mother?
Very satisfied
Satisfied
Not very satisfied
Very unsatisfied
51
Q15: Please indicate which factors are most important in contributing to the well-being of mothers in general
and their families. Family and work-related factors are included.
Very
Less
Not
Does not concern me
Important
important
important important or not applicable
Spend enough time with your family
Sharing of tasks, depending on availability
Live in adequate housing and safe
environment
A better recognition of the role of mothers
by society
A better social security system
Have more children
When needed, to have help from family,
friends or neighbors
Access to training on parenting and couple
relationship
Harmonious communication in the family
No abuse at home
Love/respect and tolerance in our everyday
life
Spirituality
Have access to leisure activities
Racial and ethnic equality
Regulation regarding time spent in front of a
screen (TV, Internet, Mobile, MP3, etc.)
Intergenerational solidarity
Less consumer-oriented society
Have choice between caring for your child
on your own or appropriate childcare
Control work/life balance
Opportunities to work part-time
Flexible working conditions (i.e.
opportunities to work from home)
Flexible work hours
Longer paid maternal and/or parental leave
Working hours matched with school hours
Quality childcare solutions
Other, please specify:
OPINION & MESSAGE ABOUT WELL-BEING:
Q16: If you could launch a message to the political world in order to increase the family’s well-being, what
would it be?
Q17: In this next-to-last section, we will ask for your opinion. The following lists some statements... How much
do you agree or disagree with each one of them?
Strongly Mildly No
Mildly
Strongly
agree
agree opinion disagree disagree
Motherhood is well recognized and valued by society.
Healthy and good relationships within the family promote
PHYSICAL health of family members.
Healthy and good relationships within the family promote
EMOTIONAL health of family members.
Mothers are the engine of the social and emotional
relationships of a family.
A mother’s influence goes far beyond the home and
contributes to the cultural, economic, and social development
of her country. (Ban Ki Moon May 2009)
The service mothers perform for their children should be
recognized as important work.
Mothers would have more children if they did not have to
work.
52
Strongly Mildly No
Mildly
Strongly
agree
agree opinion disagree disagree
Mothers would have more children if they had access to better
childcare.
Policy makers should always consider impact on families when
preparing governmental policy.
Mothers should receive credit for unpaid care work in home for
a pension.
Mothers have to work to ensure their pension.
Mothers find paid work more fulfilling than raising their
children.
Adolescents can take care of themselves after school.
The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society
and is entitled to protection by society and the State. (Article 16
Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social
security (Article 22 Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
SOCIAL-DEMOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND
Q18: We are fast approaching the end of this questionnaire: still a few more questions to go:
How old are you?
Less than 18
19-25
26-40
41-55
56-70
71 and +
Q19: Which is the highest degree of education that you achieved?
Primary
Secondary GCSE (or equivalent)
A levels (at 18 years old)
University
Q20: What best describes your current employment status?
Employee
Manager
Worker
Unemployed
Self-employed
Full-time mother
On parental leave (i.e. maternity leave)
Retired
Other
Q21: What best describes the current employment status of your PARTNER?
Employee
Manager
Worker
Unemployed
Self-employed
Full-time father
On parental leave (i.e., paternity leave)
Retired
Other
Q22: Do you volunteer?
Yes
No
Q23: Please describe in which area?
53
Non-profit associations
Hospitals
Schools
Community aid
Other
Q24: Are you member of a religious community?
No
Yes, Catholic
Yes, Protestant (Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Calvinism,
Baptism)
Yes, Orthodox
Yes, Muslim
Yes, Judaism
Yes, Buddhism
Yes, Hinduism
Yes, other. Please describe:
Q25: Is religion important to you?
Yes
No
Q26: Please select the country you live in?
UK
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Croatia
Denmark
Spain
Estonia
Finland
France
Greece
Hungary
Italy
Ireland
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxemburg
Malta
Norway
The Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland
Czech Republic
54
Q27: Where do you live?
Capital city of my country
City
Countryside
Suburbs
Q28: Has your family a migration background?(Father and/or mother and/or grand-father and/or grandmother)
Yes
No
Q29: THANK YOU
The MMM Europe would like to thank you for your support. We really appreciate the precious time you gave
us. Please rest assured that we will do everything possible to be your spokesperson and relay your demands
as accurately as possible.
If you would like to receive an update on the FAMILY PLATFORM project, please leave us your email address.
And/or don't hesitate to give us any comment or suggestions below or via email
at [email protected]. (Your personal data will be treated confidentially.)
Thank you again!
Email
Comments or suggestions
TIME USE
Q30: Surveys* have asked women their preferences concerning paid work. About 20% choose to center their
lives on a career, about 60% would like to combine paid work with family care duties, and about 20% would
prefer to center their lives on full-time unpaid family care duties.
*Dr Catherine Hakim, London School of Economics: "Work-Lifestyle Choices in the 21st Century: Preference
Theory" (Oxford University Press, 2000)
What would be your preference?
I prefer a full-time career work
I prefer some combination of part-time work and family care duties
I prefer to take full-time care of my family
Q31: In combining family care duties with the opportunity for paid work, if it were not absolutely essential for
financial reasons and there is no other compelling need, what would be your preference when you have an :
OR You have selected a combination of part-time work and family care duties. If you had the choice, which
option would you choose depending on the children's age periods below:
Full-time workPart-time workTake care of my family full-time
Les than 1 year old
1 - 3 years
4 - 6 years
7 to 11 years
12 to 18 years
19 to 25 years
26 years +
Q32: And, in reality, what is your daily life schedule like?
I have a paid full-time job
I have a part-time job
I take care of my family full-time
I am looking for a job
Q33: How do you rate your current work schedule?
Very satisfied
Quite satisfied
Unsatisfied
Not at all satisfied
Q34: Please explain why you are unsatisfied about your current work schedule.
55
INTERGENERATIONAL SOLIDARITY
Q35: The topic of this section is about your "social network".
In your daily life, where do you turn for help and for which reasons? Please indicate a time notion too:
REGULARY, OCCASIONAL or NEVER.
To take care of
To provide
To take care
To take care
my child(ren)
emotional
To provide
Not
of my
of some
To provide
when they are
support and
financial
Applicable child(ren)
household
transportation
ill or during
adult
help
when I work
tasks
school holidays
companionship
Regularly
Regularly
Regularly
Regulary
Regularly
Regularly
Not
Occasionally Occasionally Occasionally Occasionally
Occasionally Occasionally
Applicable
Never
Never
Never
Never
Never
Never
My partner
My parents
Other
family
members,
friends or
neighbors
Q36 :
To take care of my child(ren)
Not
To take care of my
when they are ill or on school
applicable child(ren) when I work
holiday
Regularly
Regularly
Not
Occasionally
Occasionally
Applicable
Never
Never
To take care of
household tasks
Regularly
Occasionally
Never
External services (i.e
daycare center)
Internal services (i.e
nanny, cleaning
services)
Q37: On the contrary, who turns to you for help and why? Please indicate a time notion: Regularly,
occasionally and never.
To take care
To take care
To provide
of their
To take care
of some
emotional
To support
Not
child(ren) of
To provide To provide
small daily
support and
them
applicablein case of
household
health care transportation
tasks (i.e.,
adult
financially
friends and
tasks
groceries)
companionship
family
Regularly Regularly Regularly Regularly
Regularly Regularly
Regularly
Not
Occasionally Occasionally Occasionally Occasionally OccasionallyOccasionally Occasionally
applicable
Never
Never
Never
Never
Never
Never
Never
Parents
Other
family
members,
friends or
neighbors
FAMILY RELATIONSHIP
Q38: This section talks about your family relationship. How would you describe your current family situation?
Very good
Good
Difficult
Very difficult
Q39: What are the reasons of your difficult family situation?
Death of one family member
Violence inside the family
Marital break-up
56
Addiction (Alcohol, drugs)
Depression
Loneliness
Blended family
Racial discrimination
Q40: Regarding your relationship with your child(ren), we realise that this may vary based on his/their
character(s) and the moments of life. Despite that, how would you describe your OVERALL relationship with
your child(ren)?
Very good
Good
Difficult
Very difficult
Q41: Please indicate which factors are most important in influencing your relationship with your child(ren).
Very
Not very
Important
Unimportant
important
important
Have sufficient time to spend with them
Have sufficient time to help them when necessary (i.e.:
homework)
No stress at home
Influence of my child(ren)'s friends
Influence of the media and time spent in front of a screen
(TV, Internet, GSM, MP3)
Maintain harmonious and stable family relations
To be able to set and maintain boundaries or limits
To have sufficient income to meet needs
Live in adequate housing
Other, please describe:
Q42: In reality, are these factors applied in your family?
Absolutely
Nearly
A little bit
Absolutely not
Q43: How would you describe your relationship with your partner?
Very good
Good
Difficult
Very difficult
Q44: Please indicate which factors are most important in influencing your relationship with your partner.
Very
Not very
Important
Unimportant
important
important
To have sufficient time for each other
No stress at home
Agreement/disagreement on how to rear our
children
Sharing of tasks, depending on availability
Regulation of time spent in front of a screen (TV,
Internet, GSM, etc)
Relationship with your extended family (parents,
brothers/sisters, etc)
Financial situation
Share of same values
Respect, love and tolerance
Quality of sexual relationship
Q45: In reality, are these factors applied in your family?
57
Absolutely
Nearly
A litte bit
Absolutely not
58
ANNEX
European Associations Aiding in the “Survey of Mothers in
Europe”
The following is a non-exhaustive list of associations and people who were initially
contacted for help with the Survey of Mothers in Europe. The majority helped to
disseminate (by word-of-mouth) and participate in the survey. Some have provided
valuable scientific advice with the survey. While we know with certainty that some
have supported this project with enthusiasm, there may be others where we don’t
know of their support. We express our gratitude to all the people and associations
for their support.
ACCION FAMILIAR
ACFL ACTION CATHOLIQUE DES FEMMES DU LUXEMBOURG
ACTION FAMILLE-ACTIE GEZIN
AD AUTREMENT DIT
AFAMMER
AFC CONFÉD. NATIONALE DES ASS. FAM. CATH.
AFEM FEMMES EUR. MÉRIDIONALE
AFEM,
AFR ASSOCIATIA FEMEILOR DIN ROMANIA WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF ROUMANIE
ALLIANCE FOR CHILDHOOD EUROPEAN NETWORK
ANDANTE
ANEP
APFN FAMILLES NOMBREUSES
ARBEITSGEMEINSCHAFT DER DEUTSCHEN FAMILIENORGANISATIONEN (AGF) E.V.
ASSEMBLAGES
ASSOCIATION POUR UN NOUVEAU FEMINISM EUROPÉEN
BICE BUREAU INTERNATIONAL CAHOLIQUE DE L'ENFANCE
CARE
CARE FOR EUROPE
CARITAS
CATHEDRA DE POLITICAS DE FAMILIA UNIVERSIDAD COMPUTENSE-FUNDACION ACCION
CEACCU CONFEDERATION ESPANOLA DE AMAS DE CASUMIDORES Y USUARIOS
CENTRE FOR LABOUR STUDIES (UNIVERSITY OF MALTA),
CENTRE PLURIDISCIPLINAIRE DE LA PERSONNE
CFFB COMMISSION DES FEMMES FRANCOPHONES DE BELGIQUE
CHANT D’OISEAU
CHILDREN’S RIGHT TO THEIR PARENTS
CLUB L BENELUX
CONFEDERATION OF FAMILY ORGANISATIONS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION (COFACE)
CURAM
DEUTSCHE GEZELLSCHAFT FUR HAUSWIRTSCHAFT E.V.
DEUTSCHER ARBEITSKREIS FUR FAMILIENHILFE E.V.
DONUM VITAE
DROIT DE NAÎTRE
DUMCF
ECOLE DES PARENTS
59
ELFAC
ENFANT SANS DROGUE
EUROCHILD
EUROFOUND
EUROPEAN CHILDREN NETWORK
EUROPEAN FORUM OF MUSLIM WOMEN
EUROPEAN MUSLIM NETWORK
EUROPEAN VALUES NETWORK
EVANGELISCHE AKTIONSGEMEINSCHAFT FÜR FAMILIENFRAGEN E. V.(EAF)
FAMILIENSERVICE GMBH
FAMILLES RURALES
FAMILY PLATFORM Consortium and Advisory Board’ members
FÉDÉRATION DE LA MÉDAILLE DE LA FAMILLE FRANÇAISE
FEDERCASALINGHE
FEFAF FEDERATION DES FEMMES ACTIVES AU FOYER
FHF FEMMES/HOMMES & FOYER
FIT FOR KIDS
FORO ESPANOL DE LA FAMILIA
FORUM DELLE ASSOCIAZIONI FAMILIARI
FORUM EUROPÉEN DES FEMMES
FTM FULLTIME MOTHERS
GEZINSBOND
HARO FREEDOM OF CHOICE EQUALITY AND PARENTHOOD
HOGER INSTITUUT VOOR GEZINSWETENSCHAPPEN HOGESCHOOL UNIVERSITEIT (Joris
Dewispelaere)
HOME RENAISSANCE FOUNDATION
ICCFR INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON COUPLE AND FAMILY RELATIONS
IEF INSTITUTE FOR MARIAGE AND FAMILY
IFHE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION FOR HOME ECONOMICS
INSTITUT FÜR DEMOGRAPHIE, ALLGEMEINWOHL UND FAMILIE E.V.
INT. FED. FOR FAMILY DEVELOPMENT
IPFE INSTITUT DE POLITIQUE FAMILIALE
KAT. FAMILIENVERBAND OST.
KMR KLUB MNOHODETNYCH RODIN
LECHE LEAGUE BELGIUM
LIGA FUR DAS KIND
LIGA VOOR HET KIND
MADRINA FUNDACION
MARIAGE CARE,
MOIC (MOVIMENTO ITALIANO CASALINGHE)
MUMSNET
MURS BRISES
NOE NAGYCSALADOSOK ORSZAGOS EGYESULETE
OBSERVATORY FOR SOCIOPOLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN EUROPE
OHFU ÖSTERREICHISCHE HAUSFRAUEN-UNION
PARENTS FORUM
PSYCHOENFANTS
SPAF SYNDICAT DES PERSONNES ACTIVES AU FOYER
TAKING CARE OF THE WORLD FUNDACJA ZADBAC O SWIAT
THE FAMILY WATCH
THE MOTHERS UNION
UMC ÚNIA MATERSKYCH CENTIER, O.Z.)
60
UNFAEF UNION NATIONALE FEMMES ACTIVES AU FOYER
UNION MONDIAL DES ORGANISATIONS FÉM. CATH
UNIVERSITÉ CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN (Bernard Fusulier & Jacques Marquet)
VFFM VERBAND DER FAMILIENFRAUEN UND MÄNNER E. V
VILLE DE BRUXELLES (Chantal Noël)
WORLD FAMILY ORGANIZATION
WORLD YOUTH ALLIANCE
WOW WORLD ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN
61
About the World Movement of Mothers
Like today’s European Union, the Mouvement Mondial des Mères (means World Movement
of Mothers) or Make Mothers Matter has its roots in the devastation of World War II.
Mothers gathered in Paris to pledge their support and efforts to the construction of a
peaceful Europe. Their organisation developed to the point that the movement under its
original name in French, Mouvement Mondial des Mères, became one of the earliest civil
society organisations to be accredited by the United Nations. Mothers saw themselves as
leaders, educators, and peacemakers not only in the elemental basic unit of society, the
family, but also in their neighbourhoods and in the wider community. In the eyes of the
founding mothers, peaceful societies had to be built from the base upward, the process
being energised by the civilising and organising energy of the world’s mothers and fathers.
The archives of the Mouvement Mondial des Mères contain a remarkable trove of materials
witness to the vision and energy with which these mothers have been engaged in the cause
of peace building. They were also prodigious networkers, issuing newsletters and
questionnaires to their ever expanding membership, and reporting their findings at
international conferences22.
From the earliest days of the Movement, the Mothers gave their time freely, working as
unremunerated volunteers. To this day, unpaid volunteer service is the rule of the
organisation. Its vast membership and its active leaders give of themselves for the purposes
of strengthening mothers in their family role and intervene at all levels of community to
promote peaceful dialogue and the wellbeing and social sustainability of human society.
In 2003, MMM created a permanent delegation to the European Union in Brussels. This EU
delegation has become MMM Europe, a partner in the European Commission’s Seventh
Framework Family Platform project. Among its assignments in the Family Platform was the
charge to report on the situation of mothers in Europe and to critically review research on
families from the mother’s point of view. MMM Europe’s aim was to ensure that the
experiential knowledge of Europe’s mothers would be reflected in the output of FAMILY
PLATFORM.
The principles guiding the work of MMM Europe are

To give voice to the concerns of Europe’s mothers, accurately reflecting their
opinions and their realities. The aim of MMM Europe is not to speak ABOUT mothers
but to make THE VOICE OF MOTHERS heard in policy circles.
22
MMM’s European and international surveys include the following: in 1982 MMM surveyed two
thousand mothers on the interchangeability and specificity of parental roles. The results became the
basis of a study day at the Palais de Luxembourg in Paris where delegates came from the United
Nations, UNESCO ministries of European states and NGOs. By 1989 the critical policy question was
“Who is minding the education and development of children?” Again the mothers held an extended
dialogue among their membership resulting in a research report and conference. In 1993, following a
UNESCO conference on street children, MMM launched a survey of two thousand parents,
adolescents, and children to explore the meaning of parental “presence” and “representation” in the life
of their children. The results were shared with policy makers and civil society representations. The year
1997 marked the 50th anniversary of the World Movement of Mothers. MMM celebrated by presenting
the results of a survey on the role of mothers in family health at a World Health Organization
conference. In 1999, MMM presented the results of its survey on unpaid work in the home at a
UNESCO conference.
62

To identify and give visibility to the strong commonalities which cut across cultural,
linguistic, political, economic, and social classifications of mothers and families
The 2011 Survey of Mothers in Europe is the first stage of a new round of dialogue with the
mothers of Europe. As this dialogue continues it will be reflected in reports and working
papers posted on the website of MMM Europe: www.mmmeurope.org.
63

realities of mothers in europe

Transcripción

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