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'Motherhood Penalty': Moms get paid less and are less likely to be hired
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The concept of a "wage gap" between men and women is a very common (although in some ways controversial) concept that has been around for quite some time. In nearly every occupation, women make less than men. The most common explanation for the gap cites a combination of discrimination as well as different choices made by men and women (women may choose to leave the workforce for a period of time, giving them less experience than their male peers when they return, for example).
But a different kind of wage gap exists that is only recently getting any coverage: the gap between mothers and everyone else.
This gap made news last week. In Seattle, sociologists Shelley Correll, Stephen Benard, and In Paik received the 2008 Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research for their study, Getting a Job: Is There a Motherhood Penalty? The research is startling and disturbing.
According to their research, mothers are less likely to be offered a job, and when they are offered the job, it is for $11,000 less, on average, than is offered to equal candidates without children. Fathers, on the other hand, were offered $6,000 more.
The research came in two parts. First, they created fake resumes and had people rate the potential candidates on things like competence and commitment to the job. The resumes were nearly identical, except for the gender of the applicant, and some had an extra note indicating they had children. The evaluators (college students) consistenly gave mothers lower scores than non-mothers, and fathers higher scores than everyone else. Again, the resumes were nearly identical, and they all included strong quantifiable examples of success, like "increased productivity by 10%." All the candidates were equally desirable based on their resumes, but again and again, mothers were deemed less qualified.
In the second round of research, the fake resumes were sent out in response to 638 real job ads. Again, they were essentially identical, except some candidates were male, and some indicated the candidate had children. Some resumes listed that the candidate had been an officer in the PTA, a marker used to indicate motherhood. The results were disheartening. Resumes of mothers were offered interviews only a third as often as nearly identical resumes of women without children. There was no difference between fathers and childless men.
As the research shows, this gap has nothing to do with taking time off, lacking experience, or not having negotiating skills. This was not an uncontrolled look at the real world, where those kind of factors definitely have an impact. This was real bosses looking at equal resumes (that they thought were real) and turning away the ones that came from women with children. It is all about thinking mothers are less worthy of hiring.
The ramifications of this discovery are huge. Some are obvious: mothers need jobs as badly as fathers and those without children, sometimes more. Single mothers are the only providers for their children; the money earned by mothers with partners is critical for many families; when fathers lose their jobs, mothers become the sole wage earners for the family. Punishing women in the workforce for having children puts families at risk.
But it also hurts everyone else, too. When mothers are unfairly penalized, fathers must pick up the slack- it isn't good for families to force men to be the sole financial support. The "motherhood penalty" accuses mothers of being less reliable and competent, and at the same time, gives fathers no flexibility to support their families outside the office. Plus, mothers who take time off from the workforce are told to keep their skills current by volunteering, but anything that indicates involvement in parenting actually backfires and hurts them when they try to get back into a job.
The "motherhood penalty" is frustratingly real. It shouldn't be ignored. As Correll, author of the study said, "I think the study documented a phenomenon that many working mothers suspected was going on. As one women told me, “You confirmed my worst fear.” However, establishing that bias against mothers is a broad social pattern helps raise awareness of the issue. And raising awareness can help human resource practitioners be on alert to potential biases against mothers, which can help reduce the occurrence of bias."
If you are interested in learning more about supporting efforts for equitable pay for mothers, check out MomsRising.org, a mothers advocacy group.
Article Sources:
Research Study Author Interview: Shelley Correll
Getting a Job: Is there a motherhood penalty?
NY Times: Why is her paycheck smaller?
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