Most parents feel it’s tougher to be a parent now than it was 20 years ago
August 31— As summer winds down, we look at people’s experiences and perceptions of parenthood. Additionally, we unpack Americans’ views on the gender pay gap and equality in the workplace.
Parenting:
- Parents feel they have it worse now compared to 20 years ago
- Parents with adult kids less likely to believe parenting is harder now
- Mothers and fathers disagree on who is doing the most at home
- Among parents, fathers drive optimism about a quick post-pandemic economic rebound
Gender in the workplace:
- Perceptions of equality in the workplace shift across generation and gender
- Regardless of their politics, women are less likely to feel that men and women have the same opportunities for advancement
Parents feel they have it worse now compared to 20 years ago
People with children in the household generally believe that it is hard to be a parent these days, though mothers tend to report higher levels of stress about some facets of parenting than fathers. For instance, seven in ten mothers say that parents today feel more pressure about “how” to parent than the parents of twenty years ago, compared to six in ten fathers.
However, everyone agrees that parenting is more expensive today than it was 20 years ago. This is the one point on which fathers more strenuously agree than mothers – 95% of fathers versus 85% of mothers believe that it is more expensive to be a parent these days compared to twenty years ago.
Parents with adult kids less likely to believe parenting is harder now
Just under half of parents with kids 18 or younger strongly agree that people are more critical of parents than they were 20 years ago. They are twice as likely to feel this way than parents who have children who are over the age of 40.
Similarly, two in five parents of teens and kids today strongly agree that people are more critical of parents than they were two decades ago. Notably, people who had kids in that age group 20 years ago don’t see it that way; parents with adult children are less likely to strongly feel that people are more critical of parents today than they were 20 years ago.
These findings are a proxy for age, with parents with younger kids more likely to be younger while those who have older adult children are more likely to be older themselves indicating that age is likely an important factor in how people feel about parenting today.
Mothers and fathers disagree on who is doing the most at home
A majority of mothers and fathers believe that they are responsible for most of the childcare and decision-making at home. This suggests that parents do not agree on how much weight their partner is pulling.
This discrepancy in how men and women self-assess their own role in household upkeep is not new, and reflects a similar divide observed in a 2019 Ipsos survey. In 2019, 61% of women said that maintaining the household fell mostly or almost entirely to them, while a plurality of men (43%) said that responsibilities were divided "half and half."
Among parents, fathers drive optimism about a quick post-pandemic economic rebound
Parents tend to be more likely to believe that the economy will pick up quickly once restrictions are lifted on businesses. However, this parental optimism is largely driven by fathers, while mothers’ views on a quick rebound hover more closely to the national average.
Perceptions of equality in the workplace are shifting across generation and gender
A majority of Americans, regardless of whether they identify as male or female, believe that the gender pay gap is real. However, among women, the perception that the gender gap is real appears to be declining slightly among younger generations.
Eight in ten women age 55 and above (or in the Boomer+ generations) believe that the gender pay gap is real, contrasted with seven in ten of the Gen X generation, and six in ten among millennial and Gen Z women. Boomer+ men are also more likely than younger men to believe that the gender pay gap exists.
These differing attitudes among women of varying ages may be a consequences of the barriers older women had to break in the workforce as they paved the way for future generations to follow them. Nevertheless, the underlying sentiment still points to women of all ages feeling they are not receiving equal pay.
Regardless of their politics, women are less likely to feel that men and women have the same opportunities for advancement, Ipsos polling finds.
There’s a roughly 15-point gap between men and women across all parties on this question. About three in four Republican men feel women have the same opportunities for advancement as men, while only 55% of Republican women feel the same. By contrast, one in three Democratic men feels women have the same opportunity to advance as men, while only 18% of Democratic women agree.
