The Birth of the Motherhood Penalty: Pregnancy Announcements at Work

• In Event: 3513 - Inequality and Mobility

Abstract

Pregnancy discrimination and motherhood wage penalties are widespread cross-nationally. We shift our analytic gaze a step earlier to investigate a critical, unexamined interactional juncture in which we argue the motherhood penalty is “born”: when women announce pregnancies to employers. We employ a comparative approach, drawing on interviews with 109 middle-class employed mothers in Stockholm, Berlin, Rome, and Washington, DC. Using relational theories on status discrimination at work and cross-national research on culture, policy, and maternal employment, we show that workplace discrimination against pregnant women and mothers is not inevitable. Context matters: Women in countries with female caregiver family models and few policies to support mothers’ employment were more likely to 1) negatively anticipate and experience pregnancy announcements, and 2) perceive that the disclosure triggered stereotypic biases and status discrimination at work, compared to women in societies that support maternal employment and facilitate dual earning/caregiving. We provide new evidence that gender inequality is created interactionally, inscribed organizationally, and embedded in the structure and culture of societies. We suggest broadening our theoretical lens to conceptualize motherhood as a stigma, not just a penalty: pregnancy discrimination and motherhood penalties are interrelated social problems in broader systems of gender-based employment inequalities that disadvantage mothers. This stigma may begin with pregnancy disclosures, cascading forward to mar women’s future interactions and evaluations. Given efforts to determine effective work interventions to reduce gender bias, understanding the timing of potential interventions is critical. The initial employer-employee conversation regarding a worker’s pregnancy is one promising target.

Authors

• Caitlyn Collins, Washington University in St. Louis

• Elena Michelle Zimmerman, Washington University in St. Louis