The motherhood penalty: Mothers earned 35% less than fathers in 2024

By Alex Gailey Bankrate com Since having her first child in certified constituents accountant Katie Thomas has repeatedly appealed herself the same impossible question career or family Following a layoff six months after having her first child Thomas decided to start her own business because she needed more flexibility to juggle caregiving and her career Three years later her daughter slightly older she decided to reenter the workforce to work full-time for one of her clients The return wasn t what it cracked out to be Between and early she worked -plus hour weeks all while welcoming her second child leaving her burned out I got tired of working so a great number of hours to see my kids for maybe an hour a day Thomas says My husband and I evaluated and we stated it s worth it for me to take a step back from what I m doing and not work these crazy hours That drove my decision in what I m doing and where I m working currently Millions of working mothers in the U S have long wrestled with the career versus family question and continue to do so in the current era With women disproportionately more likely than men to assume caregiving responsibilities and household labor multiple feel they have no choice but to either take time out of the workforce take a lower-paying job with more flexibility or reduce their hours after starting a family Mothers earnings and career upsurge oftentimes suffer from these forced choices Experts call it the motherhood penalty A new Bankrate analysis of Census Bureau Current Population Survey CPS information reveals full-time working fathers earned more in wages than mothers working full-time in a wider disparity than in and and respectively If that gap doesn t improve full-time working mothers are on track to earn roughly less than their male counterparts over the next years according to the analysis Over time the compound effect of lower earnings can make it more challenging for working mothers especially single mothers to achieve major financial milestones such as saving three to six months worth of expenses putting enough away for retirement or buying a house How much can the motherhood penalty cost women Using the latest facts from the Census Bureau s Current Population Survey Bankrate analyzed the median annual earnings of seven groups of full-time working men and women to determine where pay gaps are the widest We took into account mothers and fathers of various marital statuses as well as men and women who don t have children under in their households Bankrate s Motherhood Penalty Analysis identified that women s earnings lose ground to men s earnings throughout various phases of life from the beginning of a career to marriage to motherhood despite women making tremendous gains in higher teaching and the workforce over the last insufficient decades A Pew Research analysis reveals women have made up the majority of the college-educated workforce since Additionally women are the majority on college campuses and are attaining college degrees at higher rates according to Pew Research Financial experts stated the motherhood penalty is a crucial contributor to the overall pay gap between men and women Women working full-time earn cents for every dollar their male counterparts earn according to Bankrate s Gender Pay Gap Scrutiny Bankrate s Motherhood Penalty Research also unveiled that the pay gap is narrower for single childless women and wider for mothers when compared to the overall gender pay gap Mothers and fathers have the widest pay gap Among the groups that Bankrate analyzed the pay gap is the widest between full-time working mothers and fathers Full-time working moms earn cents for every dollar a full-time working father earns That pay gap translates to roughly a month or per year for full-time working mothers with children under Over a -year career that s a difference of more than for mothers when compared to fathers assuming the gap remains the same over time according to the research Related Articles Great Recession taught me lessons that still apply now tips to help dig your way out of debt tactics women can strengthen their finances You re retired and need cash is a HELOC the answer Edmunds Five great budget performance cars for under Comparatively full-time single and childless women earn cents on the dollar compared to their male counterparts the smallest pay gap among the groups analyzed The median annual pay gap between mothers and fathers with children under is more than five times larger than it is for single childless women and single childless men vs respectively The facts indicates that women s pay lags behind men s on average long before women have children and the pay gap typically grows when women get married and have children Women start out earning less but they re closest to parity with men when they re single with no children Once women get married the pay gap widens significantly to cents on the dollar When women have children the pay gap grows even more to cents on the dollar Single full-time working men with children under and their female counterparts also have a notable pay gap among the groups analyzed In single working mothers with children under earned while fathers of that same category earned Single women who have children also really need the income and don t want to lose their jobs mentioned Enjoyment Misra a residents guidelines professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Unfortunately the stereotypes that go along with it are that their attention is going to be split and they re going to be more focused on their children Where does the motherhood penalty stem from Yara Rodgers faculty director of the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University says the motherhood penalty the majority frequently comes from women taking on lower-paying jobs that offer more flexibility part-time work or leaving the workforce altogether after becoming parents But that flexibility can come at a cost Why are they doing that It s mainly because we still have an uneven distribution of care work that s being done in the home where women do more care work than men she says Sometimes women exit the labor sector thoroughly According to a AARP analysis in helpers are women and in are men Even when women earn the same or outearn their husbands they still take on more household chores and caregiving responsibilities according to a Pew Research Center analysis Working mothers with children under are also significantly more likely than their male counterparts to say parenting vs and chores household obligations vs negatively affect their mental fitness at least occasionally according to Bankrate s Mental Healthcare and Money Survey The fatherhood bonus Comparatively there appears to be no penalty on men s earnings when it comes to parenthood Bankrate s inquiry unveiled that fathers working full-time earned more on average than men who do not have children In fathers with children under made more in wages than men with no children under vs respectively This gap can lead to a difference of more than in wages between the two groups over years assuming earnings stay the same While it s unclear in the evidence why there doesn t appear to be a penalty for fathers Misra s theory based on her research is that it boils down to longstanding social stereotypes about what men s roles and what women s roles are Men get a premium when they have children because employers think of them as super responsible because they want to be able to backing their families she disclosed Jim Borbely a senior economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics disclosed age likely complicates these comparisons Childless women and men tend to be younger and therefore have lower earnings because younger workers generally earn less than older workers Among the groups analyzed the only instance where mothers earned more was the comparison between mothers with children under and women without children under In women with children under earned a median salary of while women without children under earned a gap Still the median earnings gap for fathers when compared to childless men is more than three times larger than it is for mothers when they are compared to their childless counterparts A further limitation in the information is that the absence of children under for women and men does not necessarily imply that they have never had children It could mean that they have children over who are not part of their household Rodgers says that if the Current Population Survey was able to capture statistics on whether a woman ever had a child we would likely see a much bigger difference in earnings between women with children and childless women Impact of the motherhood penalty on career progression The motherhood penalty can impact a woman s career rise too Latest research by professors at the Federal University of Uberl ndia and Australian National University ascertained mothers more often than fathers are passed up on promotions or choose to move into part-time or more flexible jobs that they re overqualified for to better balance their careers and caregiving In turn this can significantly dent their lifetime earnings and career advancement Alivia F a -year-old new mom based in Louisiana says she may leave the workforce once her son starts attending school in a scant years because her work hours won t align with his school hours I might have to quit working temporarily or find a part-time job unless I can find something more flexible with a school schedule so I can be home and get him in the future she says money and career tips for working moms If you re feeling overwhelmed about your finances it s pivotal to remember you re not alone Here are four attempts CFP Betty Wang recommends working moms take to alleviate their financial stress and achieve financial measure Assign a job to every dollar you earn If you want to achieve financial assurance start with the basics That means having a spending plan and sticking to it Multiple experts call it budgeting but Wang reframes it as assigning every dollar you earn a job She says particular of the jobs are to pay bills while another job could be to save for retirement or to pay for child care If you don t know where to start several financial experts recommend following the budgeting rule This strategy suggests splitting your budget into three categories for must-haves for wants and for savings I think you just have to be very mindful of where your dollars are going Wang says It s prioritizing and unfortunately there s a trade-off Slow and steady wins the race Aim to save the percentage that s matched in your k k s are a great place to save money for retirement according to Wang Nearly a quarter of women working full-time part-time or looking for employment didn t contribute to their retirement savings between August and compared to of working men according to Bankrate s Retirement Savings Survey If you have access to a k plan and your employer offers a match aim to save the matched percentage as that s essentially free money on the table From there gradually increase your contributions until you can put roughly of your income annually toward retirement Let s say they match of what you contribute she says That s another your employer will be putting in Have different savings funds for different purposes If you have multiple savings goals you should have multiple high-yield savings accounts for those goals Wang says she s a big proponent of having different funds for different purposes Whether it s an urgency fund a child care fund or a fun fund she recommends intentionally separating your dollars across various savings accounts First prioritize building three to six months worth of expenses in an crisis fund Wang says an urgency fund is paramount for women so they re not trapped in a job or taking on high-interest credit card debt they can t pay off For single parents Wang recommends setting a goal of eight months worth of expenses After establishing a solid emergency savings shift your focus towards saving money for other financial goals I know it s hard to get to when you have a lot of competing priorities but the reason is that I want the women to have a choice she says I don t want them to take the first paying job out there because that leads to being unhappy burned out and potentially having to change their job Consistently negotiate your salary and benefits If there s one way women can advocate for themselves in the workplace it s by asking for higher pay or additional work benefits Wang says negotiating for higher pay or specific benefits can be intimidating and even her bulk effective female clients struggle to ask for more money or flexibility However it s the quickest way to ensure you start earning more or get access to additional benefits straight away We all struggle with asking more because we don t want to be the squeaky wheel she says She suggests starting with research to determine the salary range for your job title level of experience and location While doing research online is essential consider also connecting with other professionals in your industry to better understand salary ranges Keep your realm research handy during the negotiation process prioritize what you need and bring that to the negotiation table It could aftermath in a higher salary signing bonus working from home more or other work benefits Majority recruiters expect you to negotiate and I think we as women fall down there because we just accept what s given to us I ve just encouraged women to ask Key takeaways Full-time working mothers with children under earned a median salary of while their male counterparts earned in according to Bankrate s analysis of Census Bureau Current Population Survey CPS evidence That s a pay gap wider than and There appears to be no penalty for men when it comes to parenthood Full-time working fathers with children under make roughly more than full-time male workers with no children under per year vs respectively It s unclear in the CPS content why there doesn t appear to be such a penalty and other factors like age experience and schooling may be playing a role Women s pay lags behind men s on average long before women have children and the pay gap typically grows when women get married and have children Methodology Bankrate analyzed median weekly earnings from the Census Bureau s Society Population Survey to identify gaps among the following full-time working groups Women without children under vs mothers with children under Mothers with children under vs fathers with children under Women without children under vs men without children under partnered and unpartnered Single women without children under vs single men without children under Men without children under vs fathers with children under Single mothers with children under vs single fathers with children under Married women without children under vs married men without children under All figures are in dollars rounded to the nearest whole dollar The analysis uses median weekly wages for all full-time wage and salary workers regardless of race or ethnicity and self-employed people are excluded Unless specified full-time working women and men with or without children under could have any marital status partnered or unpartnered Full-time working mothers and fathers have at least one child under at home Women and men without children under mean the householder does not have any children in the household under and they may have older children who are not part of their household In the analysis single is defined as a person who s never been married is married but the spouse is absent in the household separated divorced or widowed Median annual earnings for all groups are derived by multiplying median weekly earnings by weeks Median hourly wages and cent per dollar figures for all groups are derived by dividing median weekly earnings by hours which assumes a full-time work week Bankrate com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC