The Motherhood Penalty
Nov 06 | 2024
Photo by Sai De Silva (Unsplash)
You Lose $20K Each Year Just For Being a Mom
You may not know this, but there was a time when smoking was considered “liberated” behavior for women. There was a cigarette company Virginia Slims that was created specifically to attract female smokers during the bad old 1970s. The slogan was “You’ve come a long way, baby.”
As in so many other areas, women have truly come a long way in the 105 years since the 19th Amendment granted them the right to vote. But far more progress is required. A recent report on women’s wage-earning prospects underlines a challenge they face.
Female wage earners are running into something called the Motherhood Penalty. According to CNBC’s Jessica Dickler and Ana Teresa Solá….
Women are more likely to exit the labor force either permanently
or for a couple of years to take care of children,” Kelly Shue,
a professor of finance at Yale School of Management said at
CNBC’s Women & Wealth event in September…Mothers working
full-time and year-round outside the home rarely recoup the lost
wages, which add up to $20,000 a year, on average.
Dickler and Solá add, “Working moms are making just 71 cents for every dollar paid to fathers, according to an analysis of Census data by the National Women’s Law Center.”
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has done extensive research into the Motherhood Penalty. They define TMP as “The phenomenon by which women’s pay decreases once they become mothers.” The AAUW makes a most persuasive case that outdated notions of who does what in a relationship or marriage need to be jettisoned:
Old stereotypes about fathers as primary breadwinners and
mothers as primary caregivers persist, presenting barriers
women in their childbearing years. Despite federal protection,
pregnant women still face discrimination in the workplace.
And many working mothers are shut out of leadership roles
because some employers assume that women’s caregiving
commitments make them inappropriate candidates for
demanding jobs.
The Psyched Mommy website adds a twist to all this by identifying something called the Fatherhood Bonus:
Fathers tend to experience increased wages, work responsibilities,
and overall confidence from their peers and bosses after becoming
fathers…We can also see the Fatherhood Bonus in the wage gap
between men and women. As reported by Inc., women get a 4%
pay cut for each child they have, while men get an average 6% pay
increase when they become fathers. These differences persisted
even when controlling for experience, education, and hours worked.
So, this wage gap – and other discrepancies between men and
women in the workplace – isn’t about productivity between
mothers and fathers; it’s rooted in sexist, gendered stereotypes.
Less pay and fewer opportunities for women sound a familiar – and unwelcome – chord. British singer/songwriter Tracey Thorn’s “Sister” addresses the perpetual gender gap:
Oh, what year is it?
Still arguing the same shit
What year is it?
Same, same old shit…
Indeed. Same old shit. More than time to give it a rest.
The Motherhood Penalty is only one issue that needs redressing. Equal pay, civil rights, childcare, abortion access – these and other issues are of the greatest importance to women are all up for grabs in an increasingly right-wing political atmosphere. Our very best efforts are required to keep a century’s worth of progress from destruction. Because we are not going back.
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