In theory, moms these days have it all. Unlike their female descendants who were trapped in the home, modern moms can head out to work and fulfill their career as well as their personal goals. Or, at least, that’s what we’re told. Unfortunately, many working moms have a very different experience.
While women’s choices have undeniably improved, many working moms experience excessive feelings of guilt as they compromise both at home and at work. Despite putting in the hours, many working moms also find that their potential for career progression and motherhood ends when they add the job ‘mom’ to their resume.
This can be incredibly frustrating, leading to women who are spending precious time away from their children without necessarily seeing any payoff for that sacrifice. What’s more, after their careers have stagnated for a decade or more a lot of these moms find it impossible to get their promotional goals back on track.
Termed by some experts as ‘the motherhood penalty’, this situation is far from ideal, and change is still necessary if working moms are to truly enjoy the same opportunities as their male colleagues. Unfortunately, we can’t change the workplace trajectory with one blog post, but we can minimize the motherhood penalties you face by considering the following ways to work towards career progression and motherhood.
Career Progression and Motherhood: The Facts
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It’s easy to make a sweeping statement about moms in the workplace, but many managers will argue that the so-called ‘motherhood penalty’ doesn’t exist. Unfortunately, the statistics tell another story.
A study published by the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard painted a particularly bleak picture of the realities facing working moms and contained shocking statistics like the fact that moms are paid on average 8% less than non-mothers, and 18% less than their male colleagues. The same study discovered that moms have a notably harder time progressing in their careers.
In other studies, up to a quarter of working mothers have reported a belief that their careers stalled due to necessary allowances like parental leave. This remains true even though 44% of women report feeling more ambitious once returning to work from maternity leave.
Obviously, this is a multifaceted issue, but potential causes of this lack of progression that were cited in the same study include:
- Less recognition is given for hard work (14% of women)
- Additional pressure and workloads (17% of women)
- Microaggression and negative comments (13% of women)
These are just two studies of many that highlight a systematic problem with career progression and motherhood. But, are mothers doomed to a stagnant working life forever after? We hope not, and here are some tips that could help you move forward regardless of these stumbling blocks.
1. Be Upfront
We’re often sold the narrative that working moms can have it all, but this narrative overlooks the constant compromises working moms are forced to make. If moms feel pushed to agree to work long hours or commit to excessive overtime, there’s a risk they won’t be able to stick to that commitment, and will be termed ‘unreliable’ at some point down the line.
It can pay for moms to keep this in mind when reentering the workforce, ensuring that an employer is fully aware of their situation and capabilities upfront. While many moms mistakenly assume this could prove off-putting, the majority of managers appreciate this honesty, and won’t mind as much as you think so long as you get the job done.
Even if you need to work remotely during school holidays, at least your manager will know this and agree to the allowance upfront. By stating these needs early on, working moms can avoid overpromising or putting themselves at risk of having to take additional time off when everyone else is in the office.
2. Stick to Realistic Hours
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Along the same vein, moms should always make an effort to stick to realistic hours for their situation. Again, this doesn’t need to be a bad thing, it’s simply a way of ensuring that you’re comfortably able to meet work expectations without a struggle.
The good news is that managers and positions tend to be a lot more flexible now, so moms have a little more leeway here. Most notably, this will take the form of allowing you to work within school hours or letting you finish earlier and work for a few hours each evening instead. For moms of younger babies who may be up during the night or struggling with the looming signs of sleep regression such as more regular wakeups, a later start time and finish could be the ideal setup.
Whatever you do, don’t agree to a 6 am start time if you know you won’t get a wink of sleep the night before, and don’t commit to after-school hours if you don’t have reliable childcare in place to cover them. These overcommitments will lead to inevitable distractions and may see you having to leave long before your agreed hours end. And this is the kind of ammo that will see the motherhood penalty putting a stop to your promotion prospects.
3. Establish Equality at Home
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In theory, 86% of men and 88% of women believe that mothers and fathers should divide caregiving responsibilities at home equally.If this were true, working moms would have far more opportunities for career progression and motherhood, but it isn’t the experience of many mothers.
While gender equality at home has undeniably improved, there’s still a long way to go, with working mothers four times more likely to miss work for childcare reasons. Women also tend to face additional responsibilities at home after the working day, such as cleaning and cooking, than their working male counterparts.
All of this can make it incredibly difficult for women to work, let alone seek progression opportunities. By comparison, establishing true equality at home, including shared school-run responsibilities and shared management of things like meal prep, makes it far easier for women to commit to overtime and longer hours without suddenly having to step out. This increased reliability could make a huge difference to women looking to impress at work.
4. Keep Your Eye on the Ball
While positive thinking and a determined work attitude aren’t enough to overcome motherhood penalties altogether, they can certainly help in the context of career progression and motherhood. For many mothers, assumptions that progression won’t be possible only worsen that reality, with as many as 85% of mothers leaving their full-time careers within three years of having their first child. When they do return, those women are three times more likely to accept low-paid positions rather than return to their previous career trajectory.
The reasons for this are tenfold and are often tied into economic realities, but an imagined lack of prospects also tends to lurk in the background of this decision. In reality, though, there’s no better way for moms to put themselves out of the promotion race.
While it can be difficult to remain committed to a career plan with so much else going on, keeping your eye on the ball is often the best way to get ahead regardless. Even if you don’t actively seek progression during the early stages of motherhood, continuing to perform well and build your resume makes it far more likely you’ll receive a better position once your child reaches an age where that once again becomes realistic.
Is career progression possible despite the motherhood penalty on promotions? It might well be if you keep this advice in mind, and focus on career progression and motherhood.
