The Motherhood Penalty: Not so Black and White
Abstract
Working mothers experience discrimination in hiring, promotion, salary, and training opportunities. This “motherhood penalty” occurs, in part, due to stereotyped family role expectations: working mothers are often perceived as the primary caregivers in their families and are assumed to have additional domestic responsibilities compared to fathers or non-parents. Notably, when women are framed as breadwinners rather than caregivers, they do not experience a motherhood penalty. However, this line of research largely focuses on the experiences of White women and is lacking an intersectional approach. Using an experimental research design, I examined how candidate race and parenthood impacted breadwinner perceptions and promotion ratings. I hypothesized a moderated mediation model in which Black mothers would be more frequently perceived as breadwinners, mitigating the motherhood penalty they faced compared to White women. In line with previous research, motherhood status was negatively related to promotion recommendation. However, breadwinner perceptions did not explain this relationship and there was no effect of candidate race. Notably, my supplementary findings showed that mothers received lower anticipated job availability ratings compared to non-mothers, but only when they were White. These results suggest that women’s intersectional identities have important outcomes for their success in the workplace.