Career Management Alliance Blog

After the cards, flowers, and brunch, what’s in store for Mom on the Monday after Mother’s Day?

*Chances are she is among the 65.7 million women who work outside the home

*According to a 2006 AFL-CIO fact sheet, being a mom means she is likely to be underpaid and underemployed:

• *Women >35 years of age earn 76% of the earnings of their male counterparts;

• *Women ages 16-24 earn 95% of their male counterparts

Families with working mothers are experiencing the “maternal wall” - a complex set of sociological and economic barriers that lead to a myriad of problems, including lost income, poor health, work-family conflict, etc. The maternal wall is sometimes imposed on working adults by employers whose workplace policies are not family-friendly. In this case, the maternal wall is known as “family responsibilities discrimination” or “frd” - a new name for a familiar barrier that prevents women from achieving economic self-sufficiency and parity.

The bricks and mortar of the maternal wall are issues like:

• While most parents work outside the home, childcare resources are frequently limited, expensive, and disappointing. It is a status symbol for a parent to be able to stay at home to raise children.

• While women have earned more bachelor’s and master’s degrees than men since 1982, many are squandering their education and experience as they opt for less demanding, lower paying, and oftentimes, “dead-end” jobs in an effort to achieve work/life balance.

• Careers that offer high salaries and status usually require work habits that conflict with raising children, e.g. expectations of 24/7 availability, travel, relocation, etc.

• Women who opt-out of the workforce to raise their families are taking a risk: they could become single parents or widows with limited work experience, undeveloped networks, and inadequate health care insurance and retirement security.

So what can be done about it? How to honor our mothers and grandmothers who have hit the wall?

• Lobby employers to adopt values neutral human resources policies, e.g. without respect to gender or family status

• Encourage a re-examination of 24/7 expectations of successful professionals/executives

• Use tele-commuting and other technological advances to help women and men remain current in their field and visible to colleagues and management

• Expand options for quality childcare and eldercare, and for childcare/eldercare workers

Volunteer for a sympathetic candidate’s campaign or join an activist group like MomsRising.org. or Women Work! Write a check to the political campaign of a candidate who supports polices to make America truly family friendly. Scale the Maternal Wall - Do it to honor your mother!

Posted by Karen P. Katz

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