Top 10: Working moms on television

Newsflash: moms work too. In fact, according to an article by theCelebrityCafe.com, about 40 percent of moms are the number one income makers in their families. So in honor of the surge in mothers making money, here's a list of the top 10 fictional working ladies with kids.

10. Shirley Partridge: The Partridge Family featured the musical escapades of Shirley Partridge and her kids as they toured the country and became hit musicians. But it was Shirley that turned her teens into money. And she did it all while being one of those perfect moms. The theme song is even about her being a working mom:

9. Joan Holloway: For non-aficionados, this is the lady with red hair on Mad Men. She was always a strong and independent woman and she didn't let having a baby tie her down. Her nontraditional life choices made her an even more powerful woman. Plus, even having a child didn't impact her position as a fashion icon. The internet is rife with instructions on how to imitate this working mom's hair.

8. Murphy Brown: Murphy Brown was known for breaking that proverbial glass ceiling. And when she got pregnant and had a baby, it didn't stop her climb. But, as with good television, it made the climb more daunting and interesting. This series helped show that while being a working mother is possible, it's a balancing act of sacrifices and compromises. And she did it with glamor.

7. Pam Halpert: Pam from The Office is best known as an employee of Dunder Mifflin than as a mother. But she had two little ones at home that pushed her to be a better person. A lot of her reasoning for being a working mother was to be a good role model for her daughter.

6. Maggie Seaver: Growing Pains seemed to focus fairly predominantly on the male cast, especially with the runaway fame of Kirk Cameron. But the mother's story took an interesting turn when the father started to stay at home while Maggie went to work as a news reporter. She became the the family's breadwinner in events similar to the current trend in America.

5. Jill Taylor: Home Improvement was a Tim Allen feature, no doubt about it. For the first couple seasons, Jill's place was in the kitchen saying things like "I can't believe this" or "You're crazy". But eventually, the character filled in and wanted more. Jill did what many mothers are doing today; she reignited her education, studied hard while running a family, and then began a career also while running the family. And with her macho-head husband breaking everything in the home, I'm sure the extra income was welcome.

4. Elyse Keaton: The quintessential working mom from the 1980s sitcom Family Ties. Elyse was a former hippie and independent architect who clashed with her children's views which were developed along with the popular trends of the 1980s. Hippies with rebellious in conservative way children. Elyse was a great example of working momhood when working momhood was still becoming a thing.

3. Lois: Lois is the mother from Malcolm in the Middle. She worked at a grocery store and put up with all sorts of coworkers. Then she came home and dealt with her bratty kids. Out of all the characters in the show, she had everything piled on her shoulders and she was still the least likely to break. But when she did...

2. Roseanne Conner: Another mom who took the weight of the world onto her shoulders. But where Lois would explode in fits of rage, Roseanne had a humor which made taking everything on seem easy. Roseanne brought to the little screen a growing truth about mothers: time management meant fast responses to both work and family problems. And Roseanne was the first responder to all situations.

1. Clair Huxtable: This working mom did everything and she did it cool on the hit sitcom The Cosby Show. Matching wits with the chilled Bill Cosby, Clair's element on the show was a proactive and positive approach to problems. And she showed that a working mom could be happy, sexy, funny, successful, and loving.

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