Working mums are responsible for childhood obesity, a study has claimed – and people aren’t happy about it.
The study of children born between 2000 and 2002, by University College London, provides “causal evidence” linking a mother’s work to the weight of her offspring.
The children of single mums working full-time were almost 25% more likely to be overweight than the kids of stay-at-home mothers, the study found, according to The Times. For full-time working mothers who have a partner, the figure falls to 7.8%.
“We find that children whose mothers work are more likely to have increased sedentary behaviour and poorer dietary habits,” concludes one of the study’s authors, Professor Emla Fitzsimons, from University College London Institute of Education. “Maternal employment during childhood increases children’s body mass index.”
[Read More: Kids who skip breakfast more likely to be overweight, so here are some quick and healthy ideas]
What about the dads? Researchers said they could not find “any significant effect” of a father’s job on his children’s BMI.
“The fact that maternal employment has a detrimental effect on children’s BMI, while paternal employment does not appear to be relevant, is suggestive of differing workload and childcare responsibilities between parents,” the study concludes.
People on Twitter were outraged by the conclusions of the study. “It’s so sad that we still have to be faced with this type of criticism today,” one person wrote.
Another commented: “Oh good. Another thing to blame women for. How dare we leave the kitchen sink, have ambition and actually enjoy our jobs. I’ll be handing in my notice tomorrow to save all the children from obesity. I suggest all other working mums (and dads for that matter) do the same.”
“Still waiting for that study on the impact of poorly thought-through research reported by misogynist media outlets,” tweeted Sophie Walker, founder of the Women’s Equality Party.
Many highlighted the fact that these responsibilities are often placed on women.
Others were just sad by the news.
The full study will be published next month in the journal SSM – Population Health.