[1][2][3] This sociological concept highlights how working mothers often experience wage reductions, diminished perceived competence, and fewer career advancement opportunities compared to their childless counterparts.
These penalties are not limited to a single cause but are rooted in societal perceptions, workplace biases, and theories like the work-effort model, which posits that caregiving responsibilities reduce mothers' work productivity.
The motherhood penalty is prevalent across various industrialized nations and has been documented across racial and economic lines, with women of color and those in low-wage jobs experiencing more severe consequences.
[5] The most frequently hypothesized explanation of the motherhood wage penalty is that childbearing and childrearing disrupt formal education and on-the-job training.
[7] If these women become mothers, their wage gap become more significant as they are then faced time off of work and barriers in the resources and policies that their company has in place.
[7] When compared it is shown that sole mothers experience not only more financial hardship but they also lack positive psychosocial interaction and social support in the workforce.
Women who have children at the beginning of their careers have to make greater accommodations in their lives such as cutting back on education, taking more time off, and pass up on more promotions.
[3] The theoretical construct linking status characteristics, such as race or gender, to differences in behaviors and evaluations is "performance expectations".
[3] The central idea of the theory and empirical research is that ability standards are stricter for those with lower performance expectations or devalued status characteristics.
Since performances of lower status actors (mothers) are critically scrutinized, even when "objectively" equal to that of their high-status counterparts (non-mothers), they are less likely to be judged as competent in demonstrating task ability.
If motherhood is a devalued status in the setting of a workplace, mothers will be judged with harsher standards than non-mothers; therefore, will have to present greater evidence of their competence.
Due to descriptive stereotypes, men are assumed to be intelligent and assertive, which are qualities often associated with leadership and workplace achievement.
[11] Mothers in the American culture are impacted by normative social influence leading them to believe that they are supposed to prioritize the needs of dependent children above all other activities.
These conflicting roles can lead employers to engage in normative discrimination, in which they recognize the competence of mothers but believe that it is their duty to remain at home with their children.
[3] This perception of mothers penalizes them on two of the three interpersonal ratings, being seen as less likable and warm compared to their non-mother and father peers in the workplace.
Women who have more children are also more likely to have to sacrifice more in their work lives and therefore leave themselves open to suffer greater career setbacks related to the motherhood penalty.
[20] In the Netherlands for instance, the Dutch Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis estimated that the child penalty for women is 43%, mostly because mothers would reduce their working hours.
Relative to other kinds of applicants, mothers were rated as less competent, less committed, less suitable for hire, promotion, and management training, and deserving of lower salaries.
[24] In fact, the researcher found that fathers are 1.83 times more likely to be recommended for management than childless men, a difference that is marginally significant.
[26] Reconciliation policies aimed at improving economic opportunity and equality of mothers should focus on lifting the time constraints on women and changing social norms of gender roles.
[27] Theoretically, work-family reconciliation policies should give mothers (and fathers) the opportunity to advance in the workplace, while also ensuring that their families receive adequate care.
As paternity has become more and more inexpensive to prove and as more and more evidence comes in on the benefits to children from shared earning/shared parenting, the fundamental rights approach is gaining more credence and becoming easier to establish as a legal matter.
Joya Misra, Michelle Budig and Stephanie Moller did a study looking at the consequences of these different welfare strategies.
[26] The study focuses on welfare state regime strategies with an emphasis on work/family reconciliation policies meant to help men and women reconcile their roles as workers and parents.