Shine of super-mum wears off

By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) - Enthusiasm for equality between men and women is on the slide in Britain where support for stay-at-home mums appears to be growing, a major study showed on Wednesday.

The study, by Professor Jacqueline Scott from the University of Cambridge, suggests growing numbers of people are concerned about the impact of working mums on family life.

The survey tracked opinion on gender equality by comparing the results of social attitude surveys from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, using recent data from the International Social Survey Programme as well as historical polls.

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Scott focused on the results from Britain, the United States and, because earlier surveys pre-dated the fall of the Berlin Wall, the former West Germany.

"It is conceivable that opinions are shifting as the shine of the 'super-mum' syndrome wears off, and the idea of women juggling high-powered careers while also baking cookies and reading bedtime stories is increasingly seen to be unrealisable by ordinary mortals," Scott said.

The study showed that while British attitudes are more egalitarian now than in the 1980s, support for gender equality may have hit a high point some time during the 1990s, when around 50 percent of women and 51 percent of men said they thought family life would not suffer if a woman went to work.

Since then, support for working mums has fallen to 46 percent among women and 42 percent among men.