A “mommy penalty” government report shows that women who have children under age of 18 are likely to earn less than men with children who are minors. The “mommy penalty” report also said that the women who have younger kids usually have to pay more.
“Among women, median weekly earnings for mothers of children under age 18 were $680, slightly below the earnings for women without children under 18 ($697),” reads a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a government agency.
It added: “Among men, earnings for fathers with children under 18 were $946, compared with $799 for men without children under 18.”
According to a report from more than a decade ago, motherhood is generally associated with lower hourly pay, and it suggested that having kids causes mothers to lose “job experience,” “be less productive at work,” trade jobs with higher wages for jobs that are more friendly to their schedule, or suffer discrimination from employers.
Michelle Budig, a sociology professor with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst who carried out the research, told CNBC in an exclusive that “I think parenthood is like the new site of gender discrimination.”
Budig said that men who are married and have a family see their wages increase.
She added that for low-wage women, the “mommy penalty” is especially strong as they are more likely to balance less flexible jobs with unexpected parenthood demands--like having a child who is sick or a child having trouble with school.
Budig added that for men, being educated, married, and having children are characteristics that are seen favorably by employers.
“Men who conform to expectations of what makes a good man—being a highly educated, married father—[are] more valued as an employee,” Budig told CNBC.
Francine Blau, an economics professor at Cornell University, said that “if employers believe on average that women with children would be less good workers, then they might discriminate against all women with children.”
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