Seacoast Kids Are Now Following Mom Into Business
Today’s stereotypical working mother is not only working nearly the same number of hours as a man, she is spending the same amount of time with her children as stay-at-home mothers in the 1970s.
Roughly 60 percent of mothers, with children under 6, are working, and women are opening businesses at 2½ times greater rate than other privately owned companies. New Hampshire, alone, had 31,000 female majority-owned firms in 2006. These women are providing opportunities for many others, including their own children.
Linda Blum, a sociology professor at the University of New Hampshire, attributes this trend to rigid work environments.
“Mothers are opting out of the work place, because they aren’t finding family-friendly environments there,” Blum said. “Women still want to use their skills …; starting their own businesses is a way to have both (family and a profession).”
Mary Jo Brown is founder of Brown & Company and a member of the New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Women, as well as a single mother. She concurs that women are exercising the option of business ownership because it allows them to have it all.
“In my situation, I wouldn’t have been able to have my daughter if it weren’t for the flexibility and financial independence owning my own company provided,” Brown said. “It meant I was able to take time off, adjust my hours, spend time with Haley …; I bring my daughter to work when necessary and so do the people who work with me.”
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