What is mommy tax? How does it affect working mothers in the United States?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Juggling work and home is an equal opportunity challenge. The majority of both working mothers and working fathers report that it is somewhat or very difficult to balance the responsibilities of their job and their family. The term second shift is used to describe the double burden—work outside the home followed by childcare and housework—that many women face and that few men share equitably. This issue has become increasingly important as greater proportions of mothers work outside the home.

There is an economic cost to this second shift. Households do benefit from the free labor of women, but women pay what has been called the mommy tax: the lower salaries women receive over their lifetime because they have children. Mothers earn less than men and other women over their lifetime because having children causes them to lose job experience, trade higher wages for following the mommy track (an unofficial career track that firms use for women who want to divide their attention between work and family), and are discriminated against by employers. This mommy taxranges from 5 to 13 percent of lifetime wages for the first child alone. Having two children lowers earnings 10–19 percent. There is no denying that motherhood and the labor market are intertwined. While the mommy tax is not unique to the United States, cross-national comparisons show the mommy tax to be greater in the United States compared with what women face in countries that have expansive publicly financed child care systems.

Family and work continue to present challenges to women and men in the twenty-firstcentury.