The motherhood wage gap
A Cornell University study from 2005 priced the wage gap for mothers at about $11,000 less in salary than was offered to women who weren't mothers. Fathers, compared to men who weren't fathers, were instead offered about $6,000 more in salary.
Which means that even if men are individually getting the better end of the deal, a family where both parents work is typically losing $5,000 per year due to undervaluation of mothers' contributions in the workplace. Households dependent on a mother's salary are just straight up losing that average of $11,000 per year, maybe more, since single moms are paid less even than married moms.
Even in households where a mother and father are both present and in the workforce, more men have lost jobs in the recession. The financial crisis and manufacturing slowdown have meant that high-wage industries with mostly male workforces took the biggest hits, leaving many more families dependent on the wages of a mother who was probably both working in a lower-wage industry already, and taking home less than she should have been since becoming a parent.
And what about career paths after that initial hiring?
A new study presented to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) found the same thing the six year old Cornell study found: fathers are seen as more devoted to their jobs, promoted more and given more leniency in their schedules than non-parents. Meanwhile, mothers are seen as less devoted to their jobs, promoted less, and held to stricter standards than non-parents.
In other words, when a father shows up late or leaves early because of family errands, employers see him as dedicated. When a mother does exactly the same, employers are likelier to view her as lazy or disloyal to her job.
The AAUP study covered academic jobs, but altogether, U.S. women would have to work for nearly 16 months to earn what their male counterparts earn in a year. That gap isn't entirely caused by motherhood, but it's a significant contributor.
So right when families are taking on additional expenses, when they need to be buying better quality food and paying for child care, job market discrimination takes a big chunk out of their incomes. If families don't have affordable child care options and a parent (usually the mother) leaves the workforce, the gap in employment takes a huge toll on seniority and lifetime earnings. The lifetime earnings picture makes even a job that doesn't cover the cost of a more affordable day care center look like a good deal over a span of decads, but for many families, it means something to say, 'we can't afford that right now.'
It's no wonder that, according to 2008 figures, 22 percent of US children live in poverty and another 22 percent live at less than 200 percent of the official poverty level, in families that have a hard time providing for their basic necessities.
It's no wonder that what's written off as the normal cost of being female ends up hurting everyone in a family, men and children included.