The real cost of having a child has been revealed, as even decades after taking maternity leave mothers are found to be less fortunate in the workplace.
It’s being labelled ‘the motherhood penalty’, which seems accurate enough as researchers claim that women who take maternity leave dramatically decrease their job prospects.
During a parliamentary inquiry yesterday, a team of researchers explained that the gender pay gap in professional roles is only widening, and increasingly so for women in the older age bracket.
The data acquired by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) showed that women between the age of 26 and 35 earn 6% less than men in equivalent jobs, which although is not great, is only a fraction compared to the age group above.
Women in the aged 26-35 earn a shocking 20% less than their male peers.
The researchers told how women who take time off to be with their child and women who return part-time after maternity see this negativity play out in their careers more.
The research gathered also demonstrated that when internal promotional opportunities arise, women are far less likely to apply than male colleagues.
The stats come to light as evidence was provided during the Gender Pay Gap inquiry yesterday that aimed to warn MPs on the work that needed to be done to close it.
The CMI Chief Anna Francke protested that we cannot simply just expect the gender wage gap to naturally close over time.
She said:
"In 2005 the pay gap for senior women was less than it is today, which may be very surprising to hear. The reasons for that are cultural.
"There are far too few women in senior positions. We talk a lot about the motherhood penalty, but I think we need to look broader than that… it affects non-mothers as well as mothers.
"It’s about the culture of success, about how we define who is successful, it’s about this long hours, presenteeism, not fitting work around the modern lifestyle."
Founder of the Equal Pay Portal, Sheila Wild, also said:
“Do we leave them alone and say that’s the way it is, it’s going to get better?...We’re now expecting those women to work to 67 and possibly beyond that"
The Minister for Women and Eqaulities, Nick Morgan, added:
“We have been clear that you can’t have true opportunity without equality and that’s why eliminating the gender pay gap is a key priority for this government. We have made progress but we must now go much further.
"That's why we will force all larger employers to publish gender pay gap information, including bonuses.
"We will also continue to tackle the underlying causes of the gender pay gap by inspiring the next generation and making sure more women can progress from the classroom right through to the boardroom.”