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What is a ‘Motherhood Penalty’?
In 2001, the term Motherhood Penalty was first written up in The Wage Penalty for Motherhood by Michelle Budig and Paula England. The Motherhood Penalty is a systemic loss in terms of salary, benefits, hiring, leave and promotions that women face in the workplace when they become mothers1.
The Motherhood Penalty is based on the stereotypical view that women are the primary caretakers and have an obligation to stay at home and raise children. Therefore, when women who already have children and want to return to the workplace, they are considered less competent or committed to their work.
According to a 2018 study by Kelton Global, conducted by Bright Horizons, 72 percent of working mothers and fathers believe women are penalized in their careers for starting a family, while men are not. Consequently, for women who are not yet married, this forces them to choose between having a family or a career, not both.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, around 34 per cent of men with children said they had received a promotion (in 2020), while only 9 percent of women with children2.
“Men are often rewarded when they become fathers because employers see men who have children and families as more reliable or a breadwinner who will definitely be present to do the work,” said Misra, a professor of sociology and public policy at the University of Washington Massachusetts. “Meanwhile, they may perceive mom as unreliable.”
This perception makes working mothers less confident about their professional role despite the fact that 74 percent say they work because they love their career3. Pew Research‘s 2020 data shows that some are even nervous about telling their employers they are pregnant.
In an effort to reduce gender bias and stereotypes, including providing opportunities for women with families to continue working, the government implements gender equality measures in policies. One of them is Law no. 13 of 2003 that prohibits discrimination. In Law no. 13 of 2003 concerning Manpower Article 5 reads “Every worker has the same opportunity without discrimination to get a job”, and Article 6 reads “Every worker/laborer has the right to receive equal treatment without discrimination from employers.”
What are the Penalties Given to Working Mothers?
- Competence Perceptions
Several studies suggest that motherhood is a status that is considered in many workplaces and results in biased evaluations of competence. In fact, a study showed that as a mother leads evaluators to rate her as less competent than when she is described as not having children.
- Mothers are devoted to their kids more than the job and, therefore, can’t be an ideal worker
- Mothers will call off work when their kids get sick or if they can’t find childcare
- Mothers may be distracted on the job and worry about setting appointments for their kids or similar tasks, which reduces their productivity
- Mothers are going to need flexible working environments such as working remotely or split shifts in order to take care of their children.
“These biases lead to the belief that in some ways, motherhood and the tasks associated with motherhood compete with the company,” explains Misra, a professor of sociology and public policy at the University of Massachusetts.
- Bias in Recruitment
Everyone has a bias towards their choice of something, whether they realize it or not. The recruitment process is no exception. Recruitment bias has an impact on limiting candidate selection and narrowing the opportunities of potential candidates in the job market due to some qualifications leading to discrimination.
For example, when an employer’s recruitment process receives a job application from a female candidate who already has three children, the employer assumes that the candidate will be preoccupied with family obligations and not focus on work (Knocker, 2021) so the employer avoids hiring the candidate.
Research shows that hiring managers are less likely to hire mothers than single women. The impact, many mothers who make a fictitious resume. From 2007 to 2015, the practice of bias in hiring was still perpetrated. In 2015, the University of Toronto commissioned a study The Motherhood Penalty and Maternity Leave Duration: Evidence from a Field Experiment, finding that the probability of receiving a call back from potential employers decreases initially with a maternity leave.
- The Pay Gap
Women tend to get pay cuts or demotions when they become mothers, while men tend to get pay increases and promotions when they have children. One reason the wage gap exists is gender bias. Women who are pregnant and have just had children are seen as less competent and less committed than other workers.
As many as 40 percent of Indonesian women leave the world of work due to marriage and raising children and moving into unpaid care workers4. The majority of mothers work part-time whose average wages are less than those of full-time workers. In addition, working part time also reduces their chances of being promoted.
Currently, the most significant impact of the Motherhood Penalty is on the income of working mothers. According to the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), women still only earn 75 cents on each dollar men earn. Therefore, working mothers are further short-changed. With the pay gap, they lose $1,275 a month, or $15,300 a year. In addition, managers reportedly are more likely to:
- Offer working mothers a lower salary than women without children.
- Offer working fathers a “fatherhood bonus” that increases their earnings.
- Rehire a laid-off employee instead of calling back a working mother who was on leave.
Working mothers are even penalized according to the number of children they have. Third Way, a think tank, reported that working mothers lose four percent of their earnings for every child they have. The reverse is true for working fathers, who gain six percent in wages with each child. Studies have also shown that the motherhood penalty makes up 80% of the gender pay gap.
- Career Advancement
The bias created by motherhood not only hinders women when recruiting, but also women when they want to continue advancing their careers. A third of employers believe that pregnant women and mothers are generally less interested in career progression5.
Furthermore, a study of 165,000 employees in several US companies found a strong relationship between the low number of women in management and Motherhood Penalty. Women ages 25 to 40, which correlates with women’s reproductive age (25 to 34), are most likely to leave the workforce.
Meanwhile, 77 percent of working mothers said they experienced discrimination at work6. Women workers who were about to take maternity leave said they did not receive any formal support during their maternity leave transition (95%), the workplace did not have formal policies around maternity leave and return to work (58%), and only few women were provided with informations and accommodation for breastfeeding and pumping (10%)7. As a result, women are considering quitting after taking a career break.
These reports show that there are differences in perceptions and behavior between employers and workers that are to the detriment of both. Women don’t get the opportunity to develop while companies lose the diversity of talents that can contribute to progress.
- Flexibility Penalty
There are various obstacles faced by women when they return to work after having children. Offering minimal maternity leave in accordance with the law and flexible work arrangements are important factors to challenge the constraints faced by women. However, flexible working as a mother can be a double-edged sword, requiring policy adjustments in each case.
“Women who took advantage of job flexibility, or who had taken a career break when their children were very young, were hit by a long term penalty, whereby it could take up to 6 years to return to the level they had been at before the career break,” wrote Women at Work in a report released by The Female Lead in 20218.
What Can Be Done to Overcome the Motherhood Penalty?
Over the years, women have drastically increased their investment in education and employment in the hope that the perceived Motherhood Penalty will disappear. However, providing access to education and employment is not the only solution.
Individually, Venturing back into the workplace after having a child can be a time of unease and anxiety for mothers. They have the idea that pursuing a professional career can empower them to be better mothers, but at the same time working mothers also feel fully charged with balancing family life.
Governments, institutions and some private companies are starting to become very aware of the issue of the Motherhood Penalty and are willing to support working mothers, although some still see tackling this issue as ‘high cost’. Of course, this matter needs to be addressed immediately to avoid discrimination against working mothers.
There are affirmative steps that employers and co-workers can take to welcome back women returning from career breaks with open arms, while creating an environment where working mothers want to stay.
- Reducing Bias in the Workplace
The basic solution to the Motherhood Penalty issue lies in changing the existing work culture. Periodically ensure that the culture in the workplace is sensitive to gender bias and upholds inclusivity for every individual. Create respect among co-workers and provide confidence for individuals to be themselves and fulfill their roles without negative consequences.
- Adjust Policies and Facilities
In attracting and retaining the best talent, employers need to develop policies that support parents and adjust to the stages of employee life. Implementing an inclusive leave policy between mothers and fathers will help normalize parenting in the workplace.
Policies should be seen as long-term adjustments for employers, not short-term measures. For example, the latter being the work-from-home flexibility introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has slowly morphed back into fully office-based roles in many cases since.
Employers also need to review policies around flexibility to suit the needs of each case. This is because some policies are not one-size-fits-all. Don’t let the flexibility policy, which aims to have a positive impact, turn into a negative impact. Especially if the policy is abused.
Employers can consider policies and facilities that support mothers who have recently returned from maternity leave. For example, providing childcare allowances, partnering with child care facilities, or pop-up nursing rooms.
- Implement the Returnship Program
Returnship programs can help women return to the workplace while ensuring they are able to develop skills before or beyond those they have already achieved. Programs can be in the form of training and internships.
In their 2019 Women in the Workplace report, company leaders reported they believed the Returnship Program had helped retain and develop female talent. Therefore, encouraging women to return to the world of work after having children has contributed to women’s representation at the C-Suite level.
- Provide Professional Support Toward Leadership
As McKinsey reported in 2020, companies with more women executives tend to outperform those with fewer women in senior positions. Given that women in reproductive age (15-64 years) in Indonesia is more than half the population, employers cannot ignore these talents.
A 2018 study from Bright Horizons reported that 89 percent of respondents agree that working mothers in leadership roles bring out the best in employees, citing better listening and time-management skills.
“The reality is that raising children is like an elite training programme for business leadership,” says Joeli Brearley, an author of Pregnant Then Screwed: The Truth About the Motherhood Penalty and How to Fix It. “You learn patience, emotional intelligence, tolerance, how to give and receive feedback, how to motivate others, how to increase your productivity and how to multitask.”
Given current trends, leaders with traits traditionally associated with femininity, such as empathy, nurturing, and collaboration, are needed more than ever. It may also be considered to promote women, including working mothers, into leadership positions and provide them with the support they need.
The Motherhood Penalty can affect women as they work their way up the career ladder. Apart from that, it can also affect their ability to create a secure financial future. Motherhood Penalty is a reality faced by many women. Understanding how these penalties are given to mothers and how it affects their careers is important for all parties to begin to realize and take affirmative steps in supporting working mothers.
Source:
1Fortuna, S. (2020, August 26). Not in the same boat: Career progression in the pandemic. Qualtrics. https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/inequitable-effects-of-pandemic-on-careers/
2ibid
3Modern Family Index 2018. (2018). Bright Horizons.
4Addati, L., Cattaneo, U., & Pozzan, E. (2022). Care at work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender equal world of work.
5Adams, L., Winterbotham,M. et. al. (2016). Pregnancy and Maternity-related Discrimination and Disadvantage: Experiences of Employers. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Equalities and Human Rights Commission.
6ibid
72021 Maternity Leave Experience Report. (2021). Moms at Work.
8Apter, T. (2021). Women at Work: Breaking Free of The ‘Entitled Mindset’.
14 February 2023 | Tiara Tri Hapsari
