“In … the last decade, full-time work outside the home has lost some of its appeal to mothers.”

That’s the opening line of a study released just days ago that supposedly provides support for the so-called working mother “opt-out” revolution.

If those conducting the study had done a little more work, I’m betting the more accurate headline would be this one:

“In the last decade, having mothers in the workplace has lost its appeal to some employers.”

While the study from the Pew Research Center certainly appears to have the statistics on the number of mothers cutting back on their hours to juggle their caregiving responsibilities (and I would dare say to maintain some semblance of sanity), here’s my gripe with this report — it didn’t get into the ‘why.’ 

Why would mothers prefer to cut back?  Why aren’t employers doing more to create flexible work hours to keep experienced women in the workplace?

The report claims we gals have a “lack of enthusiasm” for being in the workplace full-time.

Say what?  I’ve interviewed a lot of women over the last few years, most of them lawyers, on the issue of how to manage to demands of high-pressure jobs, and the hours that come with them, and their parenting responsibilities.  Many of them have worked out some sort of part-time arrangement, but that wasn’t their first choice.  And, they’re not really working part-time — they’re working full-time hours with part-time pay.  They work when the kids are in bed.  They work early in the morning.  They try to stay on top of E-mails and phone calls while at soccer games.

Many women may not physically be in their offices “full-time,” but there’s not doubt they are working in excess of 40 to 50 hours a week, and getting paid less than their male counterparts who aren’t burdened with making pediatrician runs and soccer pick-ups.

When can the Pew Research people get started on a survey of employers about why they won’t bend just a little to accommodate today’s changed family and workplace realities?  That would shed some real truth on these numbers.

But maybe they don’t want the real truth out there.  Because then too many employers would be under the microscope about why working mothers who are really working the same hours as men are getting paid substantially less.

And they wouldn’t want that, now, would they?