Beyond measurement of the motherhood penalty: How social locations shape mothers' work decisions and stratify outcomes

Abstract

Despite the shrinking of the gender wage gap, women with children continue to experience earnings and career disadvantages that women without children do not experience. This review first summarizes how the severity of the "motherhood penalty" is influenced by a woman's marital status and class in ways that perpetuate existing inequalities. Next, it outlines how the same factors also play salient roles in determining women's workforce behaviors upon transitioning to motherhood, largely dictating the extent to which women's earnings and careers are negatively impacted by the arrival of children. After establishing the stratified lines upon which mothers' decisions are made, and the disparate financial ramifications of their decisions, the paper concludes with a call for future research into the mechanisms that propel mothers' labor market decisions.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Women and Work: Career Advancement Challenges

“…The findings of this study support the large body of literature that highlights structural barriers and systemic gender inequality in professional workplaces [13,15,21,23,33,36]. The findings further support the assertion that known barriers that have been in place for many years were exacerbated by the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic [11,37,40,52]. The major themes identified in the study-Everything Is on Hold, Lost or Relinquished Opportunity, Reevaluation of Career, and Experiences by Various Characteristics-confirm a system that is already precarious, but the added stressors of the pandemic made many women's circumstances untenable.…”

“…The pandemic laid bare the dynamics of a culture that is still not set up to help women as a whole succeed in the workplace. As the literature reviewed earlier in this paper suggests, some of the processes in professional organizations may be entrenched due to the pervasive and hegemonic traditional gender socialization of individuals [27,30,37]. It may also result from the unconscious desires on the part of actors in systems to maintain the status quo [48].…”

“…A related challenge that women face in advancing their careers is the difficulty of balancing the expectations of their professional lives with family responsibilities, particularly with the continued lack of family-friendly policies and practices in organizations today. Some of the literature has discussed the incompatibility of work expectations with family life [37][38][39][40]. Further, Deming [37] found that women often face a penalty for having families because they feel a need to cut back on hours to meet family obligations, which prevents them from career progression.…”

“…Some of the literature has discussed the incompatibility of work expectations with family life [37][38][39][40]. Further, Deming [37] found that women often face a penalty for having families because they feel a need to cut back on hours to meet family obligations, which prevents them from career progression. There is also a perceived "flexibility stigma" against workers who need flexible or part-time work arrangements to balance family obligations, which has been demonstrated to hold such workers back from promotion and advancement opportunities [41][42][43].…”

“…Schools were closed, and there was an extensive blurring of lines between work and home responsibilities. Multiple studies have indicated that women have, by and large, borne more of the brunt of this sudden shift than men [11,37,40,52]. Women covered more of the childcare and attended to more of the parenting roles during the pandemic, which pulled their focus and attention from work responsibilities.…”