American women are split on whether they would rather pursue a career or care for their family at home, if given the choice, a recent survey from the Economist/YouGov revealed.
The survey asked respondents what they would do if they were given the choice — not dictated by life’s circumstances.
“If either option were available, would you pursue a career outside the home or stay home to care for your family?” the survey asked.
Across the board among all respondents, a plurality, 47 percent, said they would choose to pursue a career outside the home, compared to 37 percent who said they would choose to stay home and care for their family.
Just over half of men, 51 percent, said they would pursue a career outside the home, compared to 30 percent of men who would stay at home to care for their family. Another 20 percent remain unsure.
However, the decision is split among women, as 43 percent said they would choose to pursue a career rather than stay at home and care for their family. Another 43 percent, however, said they would choose to stay home and care for their family over pursuing a career outside the home. Only 14 percent of women were unsure of which they would choose if both options were available.
In general, Republicans are more likely to choose to stay home and care for their family than Democrats, as 52 percent of Democrats said they would pursue a career outside the home – a choice made by 45 percent of Republicans. Forty-four percent of Republicans said they would stay at home and care for their family, but only 30 percent of Democrats said the same.
Notably, those results on party lines include answers from both male and female respondents.
The survey also asked respondents to offer their view on gender roles. Just over half across the board said men and women are “equally capable of taking on all roles,” compared to 45 percent who said that “men are more suited for some roles and women more suited for other roles.”
Men are more likely to hold a traditional complementarian view than women, as most men, 53 percent, believe men and women are better suited for different roles, while only 38 percent of women agree. Most women, 57 percent, said men and women are equally capable of taking on all roles, while 44 percent of men hold that view.
The survey was taken July 31 to August 3, among 1,609 respondents. It has a +/- 3.6 percent margin of error.
The survey comes as society continues to undergo a constant cultural shift in thinking about traditional family structure and the economic reality of the need for two income streams for single households. These realities have, in some ways, shifted perspective out of necessity. However, it has also been counterbalanced by the dramatic rise in third wave feminism in the last several years. There was yet another palpable cultural swing as wild feminists became more vocal, resulting in many women renewing the desire for “trad” living in a world where the left has attempted to blur the lines between male and female and erase any and all differences between the two sexes.
“I think it’s been a long and steady path from — feminists sort of opened up the whole concept of prioritizing career over motherhood actually, a long time ago,” Suzanne Venker, women’s life and relationship coach and host of the Suzanne Venker Show, told Breitbart News at the Turning Point USA Young Women’s Leadership Summit in 2024.
“And we just live at a time where we’re just very focused on the self. It’s a very individualistic society where the concept of sacrifice, of putting your needs on hold for the sake of really anybody, but especially children, is considered almost retro. But in fact, it’s human and normal and good and it shouldn’t change with the times. It is a static, you know. The needs of children are the same today as they were 50 years ago. They’re never going to change, and it’s up to us to meet those needs when we decide to have a family,” she said, noting the pendulum tends to swing in extreme directions and hoping for middle ground.
“Eventually I’m hoping we’re going to sort of get back into the middle where there’s a space for you to have your independent life, but it needs to be worked around children, and you don’t have go all the way in and live off the land and homeschool — which is great — but that’s not the only option, and it’s not really going to be most women’s option,” she added.
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