I don't think most people look down on stay-at-home-mothers. It's got to be one of the hardest, and most important jobs in the world. From what I have heard from people I know, there seems to be two predominate pressures which make *just* mothers feel like they aren't doing enough....first comes from themselves, because there is no immediate gratification, no mothering progress reports that say "yes, you are doing a great job". Shaping a child's sense of self is a year after year process, and one doesn't see the finished product, so to speak, until many years down the road.

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The other pressure seems to come from partners (or other mothers, who work outside the home) who make the mother feel that if they aren't helping to provide a monetary income, then their work and contribution to the family is somehow less important. In reality, raising a child to feel loved and secure and nurtured (whether or not the mother works) is what counts in the end.