The motherhood penalty and the Daddy Bonus
Proven – although dads want to care but are struggling to be able to do so.
A new survey, published by campaigning charity the Fawcett Society recently, has revealed the true impact of having children on the way women and men are treated at work.
Mothers experience a motherhood penalty and are viewed as less committed, while fathers receive a ‘daddy bonus’, and are regarded as more committed.
A poll of over 8,000 people found that when a woman has a baby, 46 per cent of people believed she becomes less committed to her job, compared to just 11 per cent believing a man becomes less committed.
In stark contrast 29 per cent of people believe fathers become more committed, compared to just 8 per cent for mothers.
The survey, carried out by Survation, also found that many fathers want to care but are struggling to do so, with 75 per cent of men taking two weeks or less off at the birth of their child and a third (33 per cent) of fathers taking only 1-5 days.
Four in 10 fathers (41 per cent) said they did not get enough leave.
It appears that in order to care for their children men are resorting to lying to their bosses – 38 per cent of fathers said they lie to spend time caring for their children. This compares to 28 per cent of mothers who lie.
One third of fathers (35 per cent) in employment said men who take time off work to care for children are not supported at work.
But the poll also showed that the desire for flexible working is now universal.
Over two thirds (68 per cent) of those surveyed said that when they think about their career choices they think about whether a job is likely to allow them to balance work and family. This rises to 72 per cent for fathers and 79 per cent for mothers.
Commenting on these figures, Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: “The motherhood penalty and daddy bonus are still a strong feature of our workplaces.
“It’s clear that when a woman has a baby she is overwhelmingly perceived as becoming less committed to her job, while a dad is much more likely to be seen as more committed.
“This drives inequality and forces women and men into traditional male breadwinner, female carer roles.
“Mums, dads – all of us – are clearly crying out for flexibility, but we know that [according to The Timewise Flexible Jobs Index 2015] few jobs are advertised as flexible working jobs.
“This is why we need a new option – flexibility first.
“We need to start from a different place and assume that all jobs are flexible working jobs unless there is a good business case for them not to be.
“In the absence of decent leave entitlements and flexible working it is not surprising that mums and dads find a way around it and lie to their bosses in order to care for their children.
“We need a decent, dedicated period of leave for dads, paid closer to replacement income rate so that they can afford to take it.”
The survey also asked parents who was carrying out the tasks associated with the care of children and found that women are still doing the lion’s share.
But significantly there was a gap in perception – with men almost twice as likely as women to think that tasks are equally shared.
Tasks included taking time off if children were ill, taking children to the dentist, arranging playdates, washing the children’s clothes or taking them to school.
For 9 out of 10 tasks asked about, men said they are mostly the responsibility of their child’s other parent.
Men are most likely to say that they are mostly responsible for making sure children do their homework; 28 per cent of men say this is mostly their responsibility and 21 per cent said it is mostly the responsibility of their child’s other parent.
Women disagreed; 60 per cent of women said making sure their children do their homework is mostly their responsibility.
Men are least likely to say that organising playdates and children’s parties is their responsibility, with only 18 per cent saying this, while 7 per cent of women said it is the responsibility of their child’s other parent.
Women are most likely to say that washing the children’s clothes is mostly their responsibility; 79 per cent of women said this, more than ten times as many as those who said it is mostly their child’s other parent (7 per cent).
Only 13 per cent of women said it is shared equally.
Across all tasks, on average 37 per cent of men said that they were equally shared while just 20 per cent of women said the same.
Sam Smethers added: “Many women will identify with these findings.
“Childcare is about more than time spent caring for children. It’s all the other stuff that goes with it too.
“But the lack of flexibility and pressure on dads at work means women are still doing the bulk of the caring and the work around childcare.”
The theme of International Women’s Day 2016 was the ‘pledge for parity’ but, as Smethers said, “until we start to see a more equal sharing of care we won’t achieve equality at work and we won’t close the pay gap.”
To read the full report, click here.