Moms make less compared to childless women
March 14, 2012
A recent report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals that the salary gap between male and female workers still exists. The study found that female workers make 81 cents for every dollar their male counterparts make.
While it's certainly not fair, many women have come to accept the inequality in salaries. However, a new study conducted by researchers at the University of New Mexico has revealed that a different type of wage gap exists as well - this one between working moms and their childless female counterparts.
According to Working Mother magazine, researchers found that mothers with one child make an average of 7 percent less than their female peers without kids. And the gap widens with each addition child. The study found that women with two children make an average of 14 percent less than women with no kids.
"There's much more subtle stereotyping about new mother's competence and commitment that's going on in the workplace," Dina Bakst of A Better Balance, a workplace rights organization, told NPR. "You know, we often see women returning from maternity leave who are given less work or dead end assignments. And this type of discrimination really drags down wages for women because they get off track, and even worse off and pushed out of the workforce."
Moms at any stage of their careers can help to maximize their earning potential by furthering their education.
According to a recent U.S. Census Bureau report, individuals whose highest degree was a bachelor's degree had an average annual salary of $58,000 in 2010, compared to $31,000 for those who only completed high school.
Mothers who want to pursue a college education should know that they can take advantage of various grants for parents, scholarships for mothers and single mother scholarships to help offset the out-of-pocket cost of earning a degree.
