Motherhood, the gender pay gap and the propensity to travel
Welcome to the bi-weekly update (#156) where we dive deeper into key topics, themes or issues specific to women and their lived experience.
Motherhood, the gender pay gap and the propensity to travel
In the UK and the US, a mothers's salary falls by approximately 40%,10 years after having a child.
Women often experience a 'motherhood penalty' whilst men experience the opposite ie the 'fatherhood bonus'. Men who are married with kids get a 'wage bonus' of 21% (according to TUC study).
One of the reasons mothers have a widening pay gap is in the propensity to move between organisations.
As covered in the book Women vs Capitalism, this suggests that women are less able or willing to seek opportunities which may lead to promotion or a higher salary.
One of the reasons is that mothers are more concerned about facing bias from their new employer because they have children.
But also, women may be more constrained in being able to commute or travel, unlike their male counterparts.
According to ONS data, men account for the majority of UK commutes lasting more than an hour, and women account for the majority of short commutes (ie lasting less than 15mins). And the longer the commute, the bigger the pay gap between men and women.
So motherhood creates a reluctance to go for good jobs that are further away, which leads to less earning power and whether they can work full-time.
But also, jobs which are more senior and demanding in nature, will offer less (‘free’) time and flexibility often required when the main carer or a single mother.
Mothers will forgo a higher salary and career promotion for a more stable environment with flexibility which allows them to juggle work and their home life (at least whilst they have a young family).
For this reason, mothers will remain loyal to their employer for longer. But as we can see their earning power and overall net worth suffers as a result.
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