Mark Dolliver's Takes: Work's Not So Hot

The allure of the workplace continues to fade for mothers. In polling by the Pew Research Center among mothers of kids 17 and younger, 20 percent said full-time work is the ideal situation for them—leaving them outnumbered by the 29 percent who’d find it ideal not to work at all outside the home. Fifty percent said a part-time gig would be ideal. The chart gives a breakdown for at-home mothers vs. working mothers.

The decline in enthusiasm for full-time work is especially noteworthy among working women: Ten years ago, 32 percent considered it the ideal, half again the number who do so now.