In the bustling offices of urban India, one figure quietly holds together multiple worlds: the earning mother. She moves seamlessly, at least on the surface, between deadlines and dinner plans, office meetings and bedtime stories. Yet hovering over her daily life is a powerful cultural archetype with Western roots: the image of the 'supermom'.
The supermom is often portrayed as a woman with extraordinary capacities. Academic literature describes her as a woman who has a job, runs a household, and handles family responsibilities smoothly, presents herself as being in complete control, and appears to be on top of it all.
Popular culture celebrates her as inspirational. But is this ideal truly empowering, or is it an exhausting standard disguised as praise?
The idea of supermom gained prominence when sociologists like Arlie Hochschild began highlighting what many women had long experienced: the 'second shift'. Even after a full day of paid work, mothers often return home to another round of unpaid labor: childcare, housework, and emotional caregiving. This dual burden is especially relevant in India, where motherhood is deeply woven into social, cultural, and moral expectations.
In this context, we conducted a study to uncover how earning mothers understand and relate to the idea of the supermom. We deliberately use the term 'earning mothers' rather than 'working women' in this study, as it recognises the invisible labor of mothers (such as childcare, relationship management, and emotional caregiving), irrespective of whether they are formally employed.
The study involved 306 urban, educated, earning mothers in India (80 per cent worked full-time), who were mainly in their early forties, married, and raising one or two children. What emerged from their responses was not a single, uniform view of the supermom, but a striking divide. Almost exactly half (51 per cent) of the respondents perceived the supermom notion as beneficial, while the other half (49 per cent) viewed it as detrimental to their sense of self.
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For those who embrace it, the supermom notion symbolised strength, competence, and balance. Managing multiple roles was seen as enriching and empowering, enhancing confidence, life skills, and personal growth.
These women associated the identity with pride, problem-solving, multitasking, and a sense of achievement, viewing the ability to balance work and family not just as survival, but as a dignified and fulfilling experience.
A full-time English teacher and mother of three described a supermom as someone who manages home, family, children’s education, and career, often with support from elders or helpers, and saw this involvement as enriching. For her, the more roles she engaged in, the more she explored life, both personally and professionally.
However, for the other half, the supermom ideal feels deeply problematic. These women described it as super-taxing, unrealistic, and even a myth.
An accounts head and mother of two expressed this sentiment sharply: success, she argued, comes from a healthy mindset and motivation, not from being treated as a superhuman.
Expecting mothers to be perfect in every role, she said, leaves no room for mistakes, and that expectation is absurd. These women experienced the supermom label as a trap. It left little space for rest, vulnerability, or self-care.
The pressure to excel constantly, without faltering, was seen as unattainable and harmful to mental and emotional well-being. For them, the supermom narrative did not acknowledge exhaustion, guilt, or the structural inequalities that shape women’s lives.
Notably, the study challenges the idea that the supermom is a single, one-dimensional concept. Instead, it reveals a nuanced reality shaped by lived experience. Differences in perception may stem from factors such as economic status, education, number of children, access to support systems, and broader social interactions.
Motherhood in India is not merely a personal experience; it is a socially constructed role shaped by patriarchy, tradition, and moral expectations. Yet, the earning mothers in this study did not simply absorb the media-driven supermom ideal. Many actively redefined it on their own terms.
Earlier research shows that motherhood can also bring gains, greater paternal involvement (Das & Žumbytė, 2017), financial contribution to the family (Mathur, 1992), and increased confidence in managing multiple roles (Das & Mohan, 1991). In some contexts, particularly in female-led households, it can even offer a sense of agency and influence over children’s lives (Choudhuri, 2014).
At the same time, the fact that nearly half of the respondents found the supermom notion burdensome cannot be overlooked. It underscores how balancing paid work and caregiving continues to strain many women. Addressing this challenge requires support at multiple levels, from organizations offering flexible work arrangements and mentoring to strong personal networks of family and friends that ease emotional and physical strain.
The media should portray motherhood in more diverse and realistic ways, rather than celebrating a single heroic ideal, which can help dismantle the myth that women must 'do it all' perfectly. Ultimately, this study reminds us that behind the supermom label are real women with complex lives, women whose voices call for empathy, not expectation, and support rather than admiration alone. And it should be up to them to decide how they want to define and navigate motherhood.
The authors are faculty members of FLAME University.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.
