Mothers face ‘wage penalty’, report finds

LONDON: The cost of motherhood to women’s careers has been laid bare in a revealing new report showing they earn a third less than men even 12 years after giving birth.

The document from the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) highlighted how 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 incur a “wage penalty”.

The paper will likely spark a fresh round of calls for action, with the report claiming the gap between higher-educated men and women has not closed at all in 20 years.

Meanwhile both Prime Minister Theresa May and Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn have singled out the pay gap as an issue that needs tackling.

The report, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, noted that the gap in average hourly wages between men and women has fallen over the past two decades. But it highlighted how on average women in paid work still receive about 18% less per hour than men.

It goes on to demonstrate the wage gap is smaller when looking at young women before they become mothers. But it grows consistently for 12 years after the first child is born; by which point women receive 33% less pay per hour than men.

It concluded that for the mid and high-educated, the gender wage gap is essentially the same as it was 20 years ago. It is only among the lowest-educated, those with less than A levels, that the gap has been steadily declining, so bringing down the average.

Robert Joyce, associate director at the IFS and the report’s author, said: “The reduction in the overall gender wage gap has been the result of more women becoming highly educated, and a decline in the wage gap among the lowest-educated.”