What the “Typical” Working Mother Looks Like

We all know the stereotype. A working mother kisses her children good-bye and leaves the town house in a smart suit. She may have running shoes on as she strides down into the subway, but in her bag are a pair of pumps and a dayplanner that is full of interesting, well-paid tasks to complete on the job. Naturally, she is an urban figure, a superwoman who works in the tallest buildings.

Of course, the “typical” working mother looks nothing like that.

In fact, the typical working mother probably lives in a rural area. She probably also poor. That’s according to a new study by the Carsey Institute. Rural mothers of children under the age of 6 are more likely to be employed than women living in urban areas. They also have have higher rates of poverty, get paid less and live in families with lower incomes.

“As men’s jobs in traditional rural industries such as agriculture, mining, timber and manufacturing disappear due to restructuring of rural labor markets, families increasingly depend on women’s wage labor,” said Kristin Smith, family demographer and author of the study.

According to numbers from 2004, 69 percent of rural mothers with children under 6 were employed. Urban mothers aren’t slackers. 63 percent of urban mothers of young children are employed too. The differences shouldn’t come as a shock. Mothers work because they have to. In the same year 24 percent of rural and 20 percent of urban mothers with children under six were living in poverty.

The biggest difference though, is that women in urban areas have access to more forms of child care and early learning programs at community centers, libraries and nearby elementary schools. As a result, children in rural areas are behind their urban peers when entering kindergarten.

“Ensuring that rural preschoolers’ early learning experiences prepare them for school should be a strong focus of state and federal policy,” Smith said in a press release.