The “Motherhood Penalty” Exists for Childless Women Too
Can we please get past the tired old argument that women are held back only by having children?
Let’s talk about lack of career progression being due to women choosing to have children. Yes, that thorny old chestnut.
Last year I wrote an article about why I am no longer speaking to most men about sexism. One of the responders to that article inspired this one. He explained to me how women are doing just fine apart from when they choose to have children, as if that simplistic response is an answer to the very entrenched and complex issue of sexism in the workplace.
Gone are the days when a prospective employer can directly ask a young woman at interview if she plans on having a family. This is illegal in most progressive countries.
But the assumptions around women and childbearing are still alive and well — and create an intrinsic disadvantage for women in the workplace — even when they choose to remain childless.
An extensive 2019 European study has demonstrated this bias, even in female-dominated fields of employment. Hundreds of fake applications were sent to companies by imaginary applicants, all aged 30 and categorized as either men, single childless women, women with young…
