Oct. 25 (UPI) — The number of women who prefer to work outside the house instead of being a homemaker reached its highest level in three decades, a Gallup poll released Thursday indicates.
The survey found that 56 percent of women would prefer to have a job outside the home, while 39 percent seek a homemaker role.
The number of women who prefer an outside job has hovered slightly above or below 50 percent since Gallup first asked the question in 1992. The low was 42 percent in 2005.
Overall, 75 percent of all people and 66 percent of men want a job outside the home. That’s also a record high for men who prefer jobs outside the home over homemaking.
The figure for all three groups has increased since the last time the question was asked in 2015. The low for all group was in 2005.
Among women, 50 percent of those who have children under 18 years old prefer to stay at home and take care of the house and family, compared to 34 percent of those with no children under 18.
“Women are more likely now than they have been in the past three decades to say they would prefer to work outside the home than to stay at home and take care of their house and family,” Gallup said in a statement accompanying the poll results.
“While women made up 47 percent of the workforce in 2018, and cultural advances over the past 50 years have led to a change in social norms, women remain far less likely than men to say they would prefer to work. In particular, mothers of children under age 18 are more likely than those without younger children to prefer to stay home.”
