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Women who return to work part-time after having children have more difficulty juggling career and family than mothers in full-time jobs.

And those who think they can solve the problem by starting their own business are wrong, with self-employed women even more likely to be stressed because they lack time.

“It is a double whammy for part-time working women - their jobs aren’t the best career option and more is expected of them on the home front,” said Barbara Pocock, head of the Centre for Work + Life at the University of South Australia.

Professor Pocock conducted in March the first national survey of work-life outcomes, called Work, Life and Time, polling 1435 male and female Australians.

The results, to be released today, “confirm that long work hours have a negative effect both on the individual in terms of health and in the broader context of friendships and community involvement”.

Professor Pocock said men tended to be more dissatisfied with how they managed their work and home life, but women were more stressed because of time pressures, particularly women with children.

“This is a significant finding given the uniquely Australian dependence on part-time work by women with children,” Professor Pocock said.

Australian