Motherhood and Money: The Silent Struggle for Working Moms (Part 1)
Have you experienced the Motherhood Penalty yet?
The "motherhood penalty" is a term used to describe disadvantages and discrimination that some mothers face in the workplace. For many women in the U.S., adding “mom” to their résumé has serious implications for career growth, earning potential, and long-term wealth. This penalty is the price we mothers pay for raising our families while working.
Statistics show that moms in the workforce are less likely to be chosen for new roles and promotions, earn lower salaries, and are held to a higher standard than fathers and women who are not mothers.
When I was 39, having just given birth to my third child in six years, I gave my husband permission to look for a better job. He was 43 years old and unhappy with his current position. He wanted more - a leadership position – while I was busy just trying to keep my head above water.
I did not get promoted to associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in the normal time frame - seven years - but was not surprised by this. I had been granted three paid maternity leaves of eight weeks each and had taken three months off work during a complicated pregnancy (also paid medical leave). With all that time away from work, I was simply not ready for promotion. My section chief kindly explained that the delay in promotion was because I had not written an adequate number of scientific papers. This was my first motherhood penalty.
My husband secured a good job at another medical school, as section chief, with a promotion to full professor. I was promised a promotion to associate professor during my first year there, however that did not happen. I finished projects started several years before, published three more papers, and worked sixty plus hours a week. Nevertheless, the promotion committee at this new medical school felt I had not “adequately established” myself as a clinical researcher. My promotion to associate professor was delayed until two years after our arrival. Another motherhood penalty.
Despite both being granted tenure, we left this second medical school and our faculty positions after six years. That job was never right for me, even though my husband enjoyed his position. We decided to change course and joined private practices in Austin. I started out working part-time at a birthing center, supervising six nurse practitioners. This less-than-stressful work and great hours (only forty a week) were perfect for me while I attempted to situate my three children into new schools, have one tested for dyslexia and started on medication for ADHD, help another to search for a new competitive swim team, and get my son into a new scout troop and double bass lessons. These were all simple but necessary things that required my time and attention, so part-time work was perfect. Not exactly a motherhood penalty.
I had gladly accepted this part-time position to get into that premier practice. They needed someone to establish this new birthing center and no one else wanted to do that. I was the first woman hired into that practice, however, in that part-time position, I soon began to feel like a second-class citizen. I had no vote in meetings and my opinion was rarely solicited (despite my having eight years more experience in my specialty than two of the original group members).
After serving for one year at the birthing center, I requested to progress to work full-time. They needed extra help in the NICU, and I happily dove into my new sixty plus hours per week schedule, night call included. Plus, I remained the liaison for the nurse practitioners (all were mothers with school aged children) because I “understood them.” My reward for being patient while working part-time (taking that motherhood penalty) was a payout in stock options the same as the original partners when the practice sold to a large national company. I remained a full-time partner in the practice for the next twenty-one years, and my salary was always equal to those of the men.
My story illustrates some of the factors about the motherhood penalty that working mothers today must consider:
Money: When women become mothers, they often end up making less money and having fewer opportunities at work. A lar
ge study published by the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard found that working mothers are getting paid less and having a harder time moving up in our jobs just because we are moms. There are measurable wage gaps - moms usually receive an 8% lower starting salary compared to non-mothers, and they receive 18% less than men who are fathers. These discrepancies occur even if we have the same education and experience.
Bias and Stereotypes: Some employers assume that mothers are less committed to their jobs, less productive, or less reliable. On competency ratings this study found that mothers were rated 12 percentage points less committed to their jobs than non-mothers, while fathers were perceived as being 5 percentage points more committed than non-fathers. These biases can influence hiring and promotion decisions. Childless women are 8 times more likely to be recommended for a promotion than mothers.
Part-time work: Mothers may be pushed into lower-paying jobs or part-time work to accommodate their caregiving responsibilities for their children. This means we don't get paid as much or promoted as often. Lack of family-friendly policies also affects our workplace performance. Some workplaces don't have good policies to help moms balance work and family, like paid time off for parents, flexible hours, or affordable childcare.
Career Interruptions: One of the reasons that the motherhood penalty impacts women is because we are more likely to take leaves of absence from work after having children or to assume caretaking responsibilities. This was most evident during the pandemic where we saw 1.8 – 2 million women leaving the workforce, figures reported by The Mom Project and The Pew Research Center. While the notions of flexibility and working from home were fast-tracked into acceptance, there remain added challenges with lack of childcare resources and affordability.
So, how do working mothers deal with all these disadvantages? I have a few ideas, based on my professional experience. Stay tuned for part 2 next week.