Have You Experienced Workplace Discrimination Because You Are a Mom?

A University of New Mexico study found that mothers earn a minimum of 14% less than women with no children even though women represent nearly half of the current United States workforce and at least three-fourths of women in American have children by the time they are 44. This means that a large percentage of working mothers in the United States will experience some level of workplace discrimination during their career. While we would hope that the struggles women have faced through the last few decades in the workplace would have created a loyalty among females in the workplace, this doesn’t always appear to be the case.

Younger women with no children may use the fact that other women in the company have children in order to get ahead while older women with grown children seem to have little patience with younger mothers attempting to move up the corporate ladder while raising a family. In fact, in many cases senior female managers can be even harder on the working moms in the company in an effort to “prove” themselves or show they do not allow extra flexibility to working moms. Conversely, older female workers may actually harbor bitter feelings when they see allowances being made for today’s mothers that were not offered to them years ago when they were working and raising their own children. These attitudes can escalate into blatant workplace discrimination for working moms. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission counsels employers to avoid assuming that women with children are less committed or less capable than their child-free counterparts, yet this caution is not always heeded.

To continue reading, click here.