Words: Gabrielle Hernandez

There has been an increase of 1.2 million women in the workplace over the past 21 years.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released the information, stating that 4.9 million women were working last year while also caring for their children.

Back in 1996, 62 percent of working mums had children who were still dependent upon them and worked full- or part-time.

In particular, mothers with children aged three or four have seen an impressive employment rate increase from 56 percent to 65 percent.

One assumption is that the flexible working trend is taking over as the norm. Nikki Cochrane, flexible work campaigner and co-founder of the pioneering social media training company, Digital Mums, has seen first hand the opportunities that have arisen for mums to make their mark in the workplace.

“From our experience this rise is likely to be triggered by mums setting up their own businesses or choosing to go freelance to secure the flexibility that is sadly still lacking in most jobs.”

She continues, “With new opportunities opening up for mums to go it alone through, for example, the rise of online marketplace platforms such as Etsy and Notonthehighstreet (home to a large number of mum-powered businesses) and skills-based training such as ours, mums are finding new ways to secure work that works around their families.”

As a method to urge parents back into the workplace, the government’s latest initiative offered 30 hours of free childcare for working parents.

Further findings from the ONS have shown that of families with both a mum and a dad present, 72 percent had both parents in the workplace. In such cases, it found that fathers tend to be full-time employees while mothers were part-time.

Earlier this month, data from the ONS showed that the number of stay at home dads were also decreasing. Currently 232,00 men are option out of the workplace, contrary to the number that had been rising steadily since 1993.

Fathers actually have the highest overall employment rates, with more than 90 percent.

Mothers have now overcome the number of childless men in the workplace. Working mums have reached 73.7 percent, just above the 73.5 percent of working men.

All of the ONS figures were estimates based on the Labour Force Survey and the Annual Population Survey.