This Maternal Price: Mothers Forfeit Over £65k in Earnings by Time Their Child Turns Five Years Old
Official statistics reveal that mothers suffer a significant loss of around £65,600 in pay by the point their first baby reaches five years old, exposing the so-called “maternal price” that jeopardizes their financial security.
Significant and Enduring Earnings Decline
Mothers in England experience a “significant and long-lasting decline” in their earnings following having a child, as they become less inclined to stay in the workforce, per analysis.
Analysis revealed that women’s average each month income had decreased by 42%, or £1,051 monthly, 60 months after the arrival of their eldest child, relative to their pay one year before the child’s arrival.
Total Losses Across Multiple Children
This amounts to a forfeiture of £65,618 across a five-year period, based on the analysis, which tracked earnings data from 2014 through 2022.
Typically, there is an further loss of around £26,300 following the birth of a second child, and then a further £32,456 after the arrival of a third baby.
Women are being “penalized for caring, marginalized at work, and assumed to just absorb the expense.”
“And, the more children you have, the greater the drop. This isn’t a gradual decline - it’s a financial nosedive leading to economic loss of over £100,000 for a woman of 3 children.”
Severe Effect on Living Standards
Commentators described the reduction in earnings as “devastating for mothers’ quality of life.”
“Money is freedom, and stripping women of that freedom because they chose to become mothers is nothing short of unacceptable.”
Data mirror the unfair reality for employed women, with calls for parental leave policies to be brought into the 21st century.
“Addressing the motherhood price requires updating parental leave policies into the 21st century, making sure both parents and partners get sufficient paid leave when they become parents – we should properly accommodate parenthood together with employment, not in spite of it.”
Existing Parental Leave Rules
Shared parental leave was established in 2014, permitting parents to split up to 50 weeks of time off, and up to 37 weeks of earnings after the arrival or adopting of a child.
But, participation has remained minimal.
According to existing rules, mothers’ leave is compensated at 90% of a mother’s typical each week pay for the initial one and a half months, then falls to the lowest of either around £187 a week or 90% of the woman’s typical salary for 33 weeks.
New dads can take 14 days compensated time off at a rate of either £187.18 a week or 90% of typical weekly earnings, whichever is lowest.
Government Examination and Early Years Support
The government has pledged favorable steps from establishing adaptable schedules the standard, to enhanced protections for pregnant women and immediate fathers’ leave.
Yet with nursery support for children aged nine months plus only just rolling out and childcare providers in some areas struggling to accommodate need, there’s still a long way to go before women are on an equal footing.
In September, working parents who have an income below £100k a year became qualified for thirty hours of government-funded nursery care a week during school terms for kids from nine months old to four years.
The roll-out comes as the early care sector faces recruitment and financial challenges.
Research found that ninety-four percent of nurseries were expected to increase their fees for non-eligible households.
