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 Give Moms Their Due—They’ve Earned ItPosted on May 10, 2007BOSTON—It’s become a Mother’s Day tradition on a par with candy, flowers and guilt. While advertisers wax poetically about the priceless work of motherhood, economists tally up the paycheck for the services she performs. This year, salary.com estimates the value of a full-time mom at $138,095, up 3 percent from last year. The monetary value of a second-shift mom is $85,939, on top of her day job. But, alas, the check is not in the mail. Nor will Mom find it next to the maple syrup on her bed tray. Motherhood is what the economists call a monopsony, a job for which there is only one employer. And it’s a rare child who’s saved up to fill Mom’s piggybank, let alone a 401(k). The real story of the Mother’s Day economy is less rosy. This is what to expect when you are expecting—expecting to be a mom and a paid worker at the same time. You can expect to be mommified. Mothers are still treated as if they were a third gender in the workplace. Among people ages 27 to 33 who have never had children, women’s earnings approach 98 percent of men’s. Many women will hit the glass ceiling, but many more will crash into the maternal wall. Here’s a Mother’s Day card from a study just published by Shelley Correll in the American Journal of Sociology. Correll performed an experiment to see if there was a motherhood penalty in the job market. She and her colleagues at Cornell University created an ideal job applicant with a successful track record, an uninterrupted work history, a boffo resume, the whole deal. Then they tucked a little telltale factoid into some of the resumes with a tip-off about mom-ness. It described her as an officer in a parent-teacher association. And—zap—she was mommified. Moms were seen as less competent and committed. Moms were half as likely to be hired as childless women or men with or without kids. Moms were offered $11,000 less in starting pay than non-moms. And, just for good measure, they were also judged more harshly for tardiness. “Just the mention of the PTA had that effect,” says Correll. “Imagine the effect of a two-year absence from the work force or part-time work.” If this is true in the lab, it’s true in real life. Joan C. Williams, who runs the Center for WorkLife Law at Hastings Law School, says discrimination against women may have gone underground but “the discrimination against mothers is breathtakingly open. Mothers are told, ‘You belong at home with the kids, you’re fired.’ ” In the stories from the center’s hot line and in the growing case law they’ve accumulated on family responsibility discrimination, you hear about women overtly denied promotions for having a child, told to have an abortion to keep a job, or rejected for a new job because “it was incompatible with being a mother.” Family emergencies are treated differently than other timeouts. And things are at least as bad for dads when they take on Mommy’s work of caregiving. I’m not suggesting that mothers quit the PTA, hide the kids or even sue, although the 400 percent increase in FRD suits has, um, raised some corporate consciousness. But, at the very least, we have to turn the story line around. No, mothers are not actually a third gender. More than 80 percent of American women have children and 80 percent of those are employed by the time their kids are 12. The reality of the workplace affects us all. The much-touted mommy wars are as useful in solving our problems as a circular firing squad. And tales of women “opting out” of professional careers squeeze out the tales of women being pushed out. As for the idea that women’s lives are an endless array of choices? Williams says ruefully, “An awful lot of what gets interpreted as a mother’s choice to drop out is really a ‘take this job and shove it’ reaction by mothers who encounter discrimination.” How many mothers would choose to spend more time at home if the fear of re-entry weren’t so daunting? How many would choose to stay in the work force except for one sick child, one snow day, one emergency room visit? And how many dads would choose to live up to their own family ideals? On Mother’s Day 2007, there is still a deep-seated bias that puts the image of a “good mother” at odds with that of an “ideal worker.” Until we wrestle down the beliefs and the rules of the workplace, our annual homage to the family values keeper will be as sentimental as this year’s $138,095 paycheck. Ellen Goodman’s e-mail address is ellengoodman(at symbol)globe.com. © 2007, Washington Post Writers Group Previous item: Republicans in Disneyland Next item: The GOP's Reaganesque Tall Tales Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig. Add Your Comment |
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By Outraged, May 14, 2007 at 7:52 am #
Re comment: #69669 by Dr. Knowitall, PhD, PhD on 5/13
This subject comes up all the time and Mother’s Day is just one MORE reason to bring it to the forefront. It’s very narrow reasoning to assume that parents should be heroic in the raising of their children, we are human beings not action figures and most try extremely hard to raise their children.
As many differences as there are in people so will there be differences in child rearing. What may be my strengths in parenting could be your weakness, and vice versa. So, if we assume that as a collective group we support all children and all parents, the better will be our communities, our nation and the world.
Education, health care, food, housing, and the like is not “paying someone for having children”. That would be like saying that giving these same things to our elderly and ill is paying them to stay alive! We are HELPING them, because they NEED it and may not be able to attain these things on their own. Some of these same people are parents, who may not have envisioned that life would take “a bad turn”. It could be a serious illness, a death in the family, a work accident that creates this need and assets are gobbled up swiftly when these things occur.
I won’t argue with you that there are those who do not appreciate or rip-off the system, because of course there are. But, it is still in the best interests of society to have support structures in place.
The viciousness which we’ve seen so much of lately is unconscionable. If I were trying to lug a 150# box up eight flights of stairs, would you not help me out? I think you would. Suddenly though we’re thrown into this archaic dog eat dog world of parenting, that says if I would need some help educating my children or getting food that somehow I’M A TERRIBLE PARENT!
Things happen and people are not invicible. The children of today really ARE our future. PEOPLE ARE EVERYTHING. If we don’t care about each other then we really are just the third rock from the sun.
Most parents are making the attempt at the very least. But you cannot tie their hands and feet throw them in the water and say “SWIM”. Sadly, that seems to be this administrations perrogative when it comes to parenting, children, the ill, the elderly and people in general.
THIS ADMINISTRATION FINDS “THE MONEY” TO KILL PEOPLE, BUT “ACTS” AS IF EVERYONE TRYING TO STAY ALIVE DOESN’T DESERVE A DIME.
IT’S NOT “THEIR” MONEY IT’S OURS! What’s good for people is good for the world.
Report thisBy Dr. Knowitall, PhD, PhD, May 13, 2007 at 5:03 am #
Outraged, my mother and father never expected to be “paid” for raising me and I didn’t expect it for raising my children. I tried often to thank my parents for what they did for me. Being gratful, I think appropriately should be a familial thing, not social. Parents who expect some form of social compensation for their job as a parent are making a mistake and so is a society that promotes compensation. Part of maturing from childhood to parenthood is that as a child, you should learn to feel gratitude and as a parent you assume your responsibility without condition. It’s very PC and patriotic to aver something to the effect that society disrespect mothers and fathers and people who need to do that should carry on. One question I would like to ask is why is it, do you suppose, that this subject seldom comes up on the other 364 days of the year, if PCers are so concerned?
Report thisBy Outraged, May 12, 2007 at 11:27 pm #
Re comment: #69319 by Dr. Knowitall, PhD, PhD
“There’s an awful lot of BS in the world.”
I’ll include you in this group.
“Revering motherhood and children is another. Mothers (and fathers) who should be revered are those who step up to take care of other breeder’s unwanted children.”
To even conceptualize having children as “breeding” is way off base. Mothers and fathers should always receive credit for the job they do. It’s unseemly to say “other breeder’s unwanted children”, sounds like you’d make a great UNWANTED step/adopted father.
“The world doesn’t owe any reproducer anything simply because they’ve added to the population.”
WRONG! As HUMAN BEINGS we owe it to EACH OTHER to CARE irregardless of whether we have or do not have children. Otherwise we’d just be plain vicious.
“If you make the decision to bring children into the world, take care of them.”
When you wake up from your idyllic world let me know. Life isn’t exactly fair across the board and the fact is the largest majority of parents do care for their children. They should get some recognition and thanks for it.
“It’s enough that society has taken it upon itself to educate them and otherwise take up slack created by parents who either made a bad choice or run out of luck.”
Is that what parents are supposed to do “run on luck”. Do you really believe that that’s what most are doing? Educating children is the LEAST we can do even for ourselves as a society. Are you saying that parents that don’t educate their own children are slackers? It certainly sounds that way.
“If you’d rather do something else with your life, do it, but don’t expect, because you have a “Baby on Board” that the world is going to genuflect.
There are places in the world where bearing children is discouraged, you know.”
I’m curious, why doesn’t it make a difference if there’s a baby in a car. Shouldn’t we out of respect for human life, especially one so young, give a damn!
Your total disregard for others shows who you are, it doesn’t do a thing to change reality. People will continue to have children whether you think it’s valid or not.
PARENTS ABSOLUTELY DESERVE THANKS FOR WHAT THEY DO! BTW, I INCLUDE MOTHERS IN THAT GROUP. MOTHERS’ SECULAR PAY SHOULD REFLECT THE EXTENSIVE INSIGHT AND REASONING IT TAKES TO DO THE JOB THEY’VE DONE. ANYONE CAN LEARN TO TYPE, BUY AND SELL PRODUCT, OPERATE A BACKHOE OR PROGRAM A COMPUTER. THAT’S GRAVY COMPARED TO SUCESSFUL PARENTING.
Report thisBy P. T., May 12, 2007 at 4:53 pm #
If greater equality is what we are after, then the solution is not to pay women in high income jobs more money but rather to pay men in such jobs less. This would make the goods and services these people provide more affordable to those with low income jobs, decreasing the inequality that has been going up.
White feminists also can pay their Hispanic maids better, increasing equality.
Report thisBy C Quil, May 12, 2007 at 10:22 am #
I don’t very often hear anything about how to juggle work life and fatherhood. When women are doing either one thing or the other - working or mothering - they have no problem. When they have to do both at the same time, they suffer the fate of all multitaskers - stress and not doing either very well.
Let’s face it. If taking care of children was really the better job option, men would be doing most of it. As one women said, “Fatherhood does not end at conception.” For an awful lot of them, it does.
Thirty years ago, married women were rarely accepted into surgical residencies. They were considered too much at risk of having children and “wasting” their training. What was “wasted” was the pool of surgeons who happened to be women. Half the male surgeons would have had less aptitude and ability than the women who were never allowed to train. Think of that the next time you’re under the knife.
I’ve heard the argument before of the happily childless who think they shouldn’t support the upcoming generation by paying some of the costs of education etc. The humans of this generation need the ones of the next - to grow our food, to build our roads, to keep our energy flowing, to nurse us when we’re dying. If you’re childless, these people will be someone else’s kids. You’d better make sure that their parents aren’t hassled too much and instead helped to bring their children up. If you have no children, your fate is in the hands of somebody else’s kids. You and other people of your age group won’t be able to do everything that needs doing forever.
Report thisBy Sally, May 11, 2007 at 10:23 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
One big problem with this study. The people evaluating the resumes were not employers, but rather “192 Cornell undergraduates”.
Another interesting fact:
“There was no difference in how men and women evaluators rated the applicants...”
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Aug05/soc.mothers. dea.html
Report thisBy Douglas Chalmers, May 11, 2007 at 1:17 pm #
Stand - and Pray - for Peace on May 13
05/11/2007 11:21 AM
Dear Friends:
Stand for Peace on Mother’s Day
Some of you may have been sent an email by the women of Ohio
calling upon the women of the world, from the day-old babies to our most senior elders, to stand with them to help bring peace to the world on Mother’s Day—Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 1:00 p.m.
A summary of what brought this about is that a busboy who worked in a café in Ohio whose windowfaced the public park noticed that two grandmotherly looking women had been standing in the park all day without moving at all and without talking. They were dressed up in their Sunday best and were just staring at the town hall. He asked the other patrons in the café what they thought the women were up to. They speculated on a variety of things.
Then, a five-year old year who was in the café spoke up and said “One of them is my grandmother and I know what they are doing. They are standing there to save the world.” Everyone in the café hooted and howled and laughed. On his way home the busboy decided to ask the women what they were doing and sure enough their answer was “We are saving the world.”
The next morning the busboy looked out the café windowand the two women were back, along with his mother, her friends, and the women who had been in the café the day before. All were standing in silence staring at the town hall. The next day the women were joined by the women who were in the café the day before and a number of their friends. The police chief told them they would have to disperse because they didn’t have a permit, one of them
responded that “we are just individuals standing in our public park and we are not giving speeches or having a demonstration so why would we need a permit.” The police chief thought about this and agreed with them and left the park.
At this point 2,223 women including the mayor’s wife, the police chief’s wife, and one five-year old girl were standing in the park to save the world. The news quickly spread and soon women were standing all over the country. The story ended with women standing in every country throughout the globe, standing to save the world. See http://www.grandmotherbook.com.
Pray for Peace
We are being asked to stand for five minutes of silence at 1
p.m. your local time on May 13, 2007, in your local park, school yard, gathering place, or any place you deem appropriate- men, women and children.
We are asked to bring bells to ring at 1 p.m. to signify the
beginning of the five minutes of silence and to ring again to signify the end of the period of silence. During the silence, please think about what you individually and we collectively can do to attain this world.
I also would suggest we spend the five minutes in silent prayer,sending out waves of love and healing energy to our suffering world, to uplift, heal and strengthen all whom it touches. If you want to know more about sending prayer, please click here -http://www.chrissieblaze.com/prayforpeace.shtml
Mother’s Day Service
Also this Sunday, May 13, I will be conducting a Divine Service on Mother’s Day at 11:00 a.m. During this Service we also will be sending out prayers of peace and love to our suffering world.
The Aetherius Society Temple
6202 Afton Place
Hollywood, CA 90028
Tel: (323) 465 9652
http://www.aetherius.org
Thanks for your interest and support.
Blessings,
Chrissie
Report thishttp://chrissieblaze.com/blog.php
By Dr. Knowitall, PhD, PhD, May 11, 2007 at 4:12 am #
There’s an awful lot of BS in the world. Take “they died for their country.” Patriotic BS that we learn early on to sloganize in order to make Iraqi-type war fatalities meaningful. Revering motherhood and children is another. Mothers (and fathers) who should be revered are those who step up to take care of other breeder’s unwanted children. The world doesn’t owe any reproducer anything simply because they’ve added to the population. If you make the decision to bring children into the world, take care of them. It’s enough that society has taken it upon itself to educate them and otherwise take up slack created by parents who either made a bad choice or run out of luck. If you’d rather do something else with your life, do it, but don’t expect, because you have a “Baby on Board” that the world is going to genuflect.
Report thisThere are places in the world where bearing children is discouraged, you know.
By Dawn, May 10, 2007 at 10:00 pm #
Re comment: #69204 by jsep
That is a great idea. I hope it gets some traction. Thanks.
Report thisBy G. Anderson, May 10, 2007 at 9:55 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
As Warren Farell has well documented, a large percentage of working women earn less, because they have flexible schedules and work closer to their homes which allow them significant amounts of time and access to their children. Women also collect significant amounts of child support and spousal support.
But as far as I’m concerned this is not the point. To purely calcuate the worth of someone because of the amount of money they make, is one of the reasons why women no longer choose to stay home and raise children.
It’s like sending your children a bill for all those moments and times when you could be there with them, becoming a part of their lives.
You cannot put a price tag on the value of a human life, or on the meaning it has to their loved ones.
As Marx declared, in so many words, the only relationship that matters to a capitalist, is that of capital.
Our bottom line has become our sickness in this country.
Report thisBy Outraged, May 10, 2007 at 9:25 pm #
Re comment:
#69212 by PatrickHenry on 5/10 at 2:54 pm
Gee Whiz, what state do you live in and how much does this mother MAKE? Well, I have to tell ya, it sure ain’t like that here.
As a parent, I give you all the credit in the world for raising your children. Remember, when all is said and done, would you rather have all the money and no friends, or all the friends (I include adult children in this, I know, I have them.) and no money? I know both is better, but hey...sometimes life bites!
Report thisBy PatrickHenry, May 10, 2007 at 2:54 pm #
I have been a custodial father for the past five years of 2 children, 7 and 9. I work full time and lost my job in the first year of custody because I wouldn’t work the 60 hour weeks my employer of 16 years had come to expect. Didn’t mind though, when god closes a door he opens a new one and the one he opened for me led to a better position with a more understanding employer.
Women complain about the glass ceiling in the boardroom, I’m here to tell you about the glass wall in the courtroom. Try to get a mother to pay out child support to the father. The court will make every excuse, exercise alimony in lieu of child support and otherwise give the mothers chances and exceptions usually not accorded fathers under the same set of circumstances.
Report thisBy jsep, May 10, 2007 at 1:59 pm #
Considering Mother’s Day began as an anti-war holiday perhaps it would be appropriate this year if more focus of the day was spent fighting a good cause. Groups such as the Borgen Project are working to help encourage government officials to support, promote, and accomplish the Millennium Development Goals. While President Bush spends $300 million on the war in Iraq, we are $19 billion short in the eradication of starvation and malnutrition. This Mother’s Day lets help encourage the end to global poverty by encouraging people to contact government officials in their area to help them bring the Millennium Development Goals to the front of their foreign policy. If this happens, perhaps in the near future mothers worldwide will be able to celebrate Mother’s Day with enough food to feed their entire family.
Report thisBy RobertBennett, May 10, 2007 at 11:54 am #
Well done, Ms. Goodman.
This is the single most relevant article I’ve seen on Truthdig, (or for that matter, any US news outlet.)
You are a credit to your profession.
Nothing is more important than children. Nothing.
America does not care about its children, and so Mothers are not valued.
From the 2000 US Census:
12 million American children live in poverty.
4 million American Seniors live in poverty.
Seniors (50+) are the most affluent segment of our society, and the most greedy. Sadly, my generation is following in their footsteps.
“Seniors aged 65 and over devour almost 60 percent of the federal entitlement pie, while the much larger cohort of the population aged 18-64 nibbles on a lean 28 percent.”
“Social Security is a raw deal for the young. While a worker born in 1915 who retired at 65 in 1980 collected $71,390 MORE than he paid into Social Security, a worker born in 1975 can expect to collect $93,486 LESS than she contributed.”
American Seniors…
* are the most affluent consumer group that exists.
* Average $24,000 in annual disposable income.
* Own over 80% of all money in savings accounts.
* Own 79% of America’s financial assets.
* Spend almost $2 Trillion on goods & services each year.”
Source: Gary Onks
- SoldOnSeniors, Inc.
- SoldOnSeniors.com
Not everyone is quite as “sold on seniors”.
“.........young Americans – many of whom are struggling to pay off educational debt and want to save for a home, marriage, and a family – are being forced to make an intergenerational wealth transfer to more-affluent seniors.”
References can be found here:
Report thishttp://thespiritandthestone.squarespace.com/thespirita ndthestone/2007/5/6/older-and-wiser-1.html
By Outraged, May 10, 2007 at 7:54 am #
This is so rampant it’s disgusting. Although it gets me nowhere, when I’m interviewed for positions (and I can see I’m “not their girl"), I enjoy directly asking them, Is it because I have children? or Because I’m a woman?
I guess it’s just that thunderstruck look that comes across their face I enjoy so much. Then they give me that angry glare that says “the audacity of ME saying to THEM something so outrageous...” So then, well, I continue…
“Do you feel I’m not intelligent enough or something? I’m very confident that I could go head to head in the “intelligence department” with just about anyone, and well, at the very least it would be a wash.” Again, the thunderstruck look....
Trust me, this is great entertainment. Much better than the pinched “We’ll get back to you? face. (Just for the record, I’ve already been ordered out of the office, always by those arrogant-type of men, you know, the kind that really think “women have their place") Then as they’re exhibiting this elaborate body language of duress, which I pretent not to “notice”, I’ll stand up and say something to the effect “Well, let me know if you have anything that might work out for the BOTH OF US, shake their hand and walk out.
It really takes away those “we don’t want you blues” (I’m mean it can really get to you, it’s like, god, even the shitty people don’t want me!"). I figure someone who’s ALREADY treating me badly is someone I don’t want to work for.
When you are interviewed by reasonable people, of course they hire you and of course the position works out because now you’re dealing with reasonable people. Hang tough!
Report thisBy Sid, May 10, 2007 at 4:56 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
“And things are at least as bad for dads when they take on mommy’s work of caregiving.”
Why does Ellen Goodman consider caregiving to be mommy’s work? Why prop up the stereotype Ellen?
Report this