A 50-year revolution in British family life: Half the number of stay-at-home mums, 1 in 5 couples has a female breadwinner and two in three rely on childcare, report shows

Report shows a seismic shift has swept over family life in last 50 years

Number of homemakers almost half with role becoming dying concept

Cost of average family home has risen in 40 years from £11,000 to £260,000

Average age of first time mothers has risen from 26 in 1974 to nearly 30



The role of the stay-at-home housewife is a dying concept, according to a new report

The ‘seismic shift’ that has swept family life over the last 50 years is detailed in a report released today.

The number of mothers who are full-time homemakers has almost halved, while the number of couples who are both in full-time work has doubled.

In the 1960s and 1970s, only a minority of children had a mother who worked, but today this group makes up the majority.



And one in five couples now has a ‘bread-winning wife’, a woman who earns more than her partner.

The report looked at three generations of children – Generation X, who were born between 1965 and 1980, Generation Y, born between 1981 and 2000, and Generation Z, born since 2001.

It found enormous changes in family life, from baby names to the cost of a family home and the age at which a mother typically has her first child. A family home cost around £11,000 in 1974, compared to an average house price of around £260,000 today.

The age at which mothers tend to have their first child has risen from 26 in 1974 to nearly 30 today, with many more babies being born to mothers over 40.

The report, from insurer Aviva, quizzed more than 1,100 parents of children born in each generation about their working life and their children’s experience.

For Generation X, it found that two-thirds of youngsters had a mother who did not have a job and was at home full-time.

But Generation Z babies have had a fundamentally different childhood. Just a third of today’s mothers said that they are full-time stay-at-home parents.

Generation Z is more likely than any previous generation to have two parents who work full-time. In many cases, children barely see their parents during the week, and this may be only briefly in the morning and at night.

Between Generation X in the 1960s and 70s and Generation Z, the proportion of families who ‘rely’ on two full-time incomes doubled from 11 per cent to 22 per cent, the report said.

The majority of Generation X parents said they simply ‘did not need to use childcare’, with 60 per cent saying they brought up their children entirely alone.

By comparison, in Generation Z, 66 per cent of parents use some form of childcare, according to Aviva’s report published today.

Childcare can include anything from a full-time nanny or place in a local nursery to a grandparent who regularly looks after children.

A quarter of the Generation Z parents surveyed said they had placed their children in ‘nursery-based childcare’.



The report also found that in 1974, the most popular names were Sarah, Claire, Nicola, Emma and Lisa for girls, while for boys it was Paul, Mark, David, Andrew and Richard. Today a girl is more likely to be called Amelia, Olivia, Jessica, Emily or Lily, while the top boys’ names are Harry, Oliver, Jack, Charlie or Jacob.

The report’s revelations follow figures from the Office for National Statistics showing the number of mothers who stay at home is set to drop below two million for the first time. In 1993, there were around three million stay-at-home mothers, but many now earn far more than their husbands.

In Generation Z, 66 per cent of parents use some form of childcare the research reveals

One full-time mother said: ‘My husband was a full-time dad when our children were very little and only started working again when they started school.

‘I remember telling my daughter that daddy was going to work and she just laughed at me like I was joking or just plain silly and said: “Dads don’t go to work!”

‘She genuinely believed that they didn’t.’



The Aviva report also gives a warning that the army of grandparents who look after grandchildren may soon be dwindling.

It says: ‘The tradition of using grandparents as a source of cheap childcare may be under threat given the rising retirement age.’

The report continues: ‘The State pension age is rising, which means that fewer grandparents may have leisure time to help their children care for their families.’

Women used to be able to start claiming their State pension at 60, but this threshold will be gradually increased according to a timetable set out by the Government.

The Aviva report also gives a warning that the army of grandparents who look after grandchildren may soon be dwindling

Under the current plan, the State pension age for men and women will reach 65 by 2018, 67 by 2028, and 69 by the late 2040s.

Louise Colley, of Aviva, said: ‘The last 50 years has seen a seismic shift in the way that UK families are raising children.’

Lynne Burnham, of campaign group Mothers at Home Matter, said more parents may be working, but many would prefer not to be.