Pay For Women Essay

According to the class notes, mothers with one child earn seven percent less than women without children. A woman with two or more children earns fourteen percent less than a woman without children. The article, “British Women Face Dramatic Pay Gap 'Penalty’ When They Become Mothers”, states that young women in their thirties still face a severe “pay penalty” when they become mothers, despite the gender gap falling in Britain. The wage gap is far smaller when women are young, but opens up after the birth of their first baby. It suggested time taken off and part-time working could mean mothers miss out on promotions, experience - and effectively incur a “wage penalty.” According to Laura Gardiner, senior policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, successive generations of women have benefited from slow but steady progress in closing the gender pay gap. …show more content…
Sarah Champion, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, urged the government to do more to help close the pay gap as women progress in their careers. She states that, “Thousands of new mothers are forced out of their jobs each year due to maternity discrimination and the vast majority of tax and benefit changes have fallen on the shoulders of women.” I am kind of ambivalent on where I stand on this particular issue since I can see both sides. Maybe some companies need workers who are available during all months of the year and take minimal time off. So, this could be a reason why certain companies prefer to hire males than females. At the same time though, I do not agree with the fact that mothers are getting paid less than women without children. However, training, progression and promotion are much harder to come by when working part time, which many women with children either choose to do, or feel they have to because of childcare