What is the motherhood penalty????

Question

What is the motherhood penalty??? hello everybody look I am taking a Sociology class at college but by using the text I can't find the answer to the question.. Can somebody help with the sociological question?

Answer 1

It refers to the fact that mothers are less likely to be hired and typically paid less because they have children.

Answer 2

From experience, I would call that, the teen years...We get penalized...call a fowl on the childrens then endup winning anyway...Just joking, but wouldn't be suprised if I was correct...

Like I said, I was joking....can we not lose humor in our everyday questioning, now wouldn't that be ideal?...you know lightening up, and get through the day with a few chuckles???

Answer 3

specifically referring to babies having babies. many young girls have babies with no one to watch them if they have to work.

"penalty" is subjective. "Just" may be more descriptive.

Answer 4

In women's lifetime career track, women end up making less & earning lower salaries because they typically take time out of their careers to have children.  That's the motherhood penalty.  The time we spend leaving the workforce, then re-entering, hurts our careers and lowers our salaries in the long-term.  Further, women with children are less likely to agree to travel extensively, relocate, and work large amounts of overtime, all of which can translate to promotions & higher earnings for men.

Women can't always point to discrimination as the reason to  lower earnings versus men:  we tend to take big timeouts from our careers for our children.  (Fair tradeoff to me!)