Motherhood widens pay gap and hits prospects

Women’s pay and work prospects take a dive once they have children. That is the stark message from the Fawcett Society gender equality organisation in its report Not having it all: how motherhood reduces women’s pay and employment prospects.

The study, which draws on existing research, says: “Before becoming parents, men and women are equally likely to be employed but childbirth marks the start of a great divide which continues even after children have left home.” Well over half (57%) of mums with children aged under five are in paid work compared to 90% of dads.

Full-time women workers experience a pay deficit, the report notes, and partnered women without children who work full time earn 9% less than men on average. But motherhood has a “devastating” impact as the pay gap shoots up to 21.6% for full-time women workers with two children.

The Fawcett Society says it wants to see mums provided with support to return to jobs at their previous skills levels; an enforcement of the law to protect pregnant women and women on maternity leave from discrimination; more part-time work in higher-paid occupations; and action on low pay in those sectors primarily employing women.

The report can be accessed at: www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/documents/NotHavingItAll.pdf