Motherhood penalty continues to impact UK mothers

11th March 2024

Sheryl Miles

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The gender pay gap continues to worsen, with the difference between mothers and fathers median hourly pay growing by 93p an hour since 2020.

Campaigners argue that the 'motherhood penalty' is having damaging effects on both women and the economy as a study released on International Women Day compared the hourly earnings of mothers and fathers.

The analysis revealed on average mothers earned 24% less an hour than fathers in 2023, showing women to earn £4.44 less per hour.

The analysis compared ONS data from January to March 2023 with January to March 2020 and found the median hourly pay for fathers was £18.48 compared with £14.04 for mothers.

Campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed commissioned the analysis which found the pay gap for the average hourly pay between mothers and fathers had increased by 1.3% since 2020 to 93p an hour.

Joeli Brearley, the Chief Executive of Pregnant Then Screwed said it's "even harder for women to have children and earn a decent living." The cost-of-living crisis, along with the increase of the cost of childcare has had harmful effects on women's careers.

While the gender pay gap has been slowly declining over the past years, progress has stalled. In 2023, the gap between full-time employees increased in 2022 by 0.1% from 7.6 to 7.7%.

Rachael Hays, Transformation Director at Definia, part of The IN Group, said: "Considering the time we live in, it's extremely disappointing to see many women still earning considerably less than men. The widening motherhood pay penalty is not just a gender issue, but a societal problem with long term consequences, such as driving the huge pensions pay gap. The divergence of men and women's salaries from the point of parenthood is a driving reason behind the gender pay gap that must be addressed to make real change.

"Increasing numbers of organisations bringing in longer periods of paid paternity leave and the post Covid removal of stigma around flexible and hybrid working will all contribute to pay parity, but there is a long way to go. At The IN Group our quarterly DEI committee meetings offer a safe, inclusive space where we talk honestly about what we're working on and where we might need to make changes, and I would encourage all businesses to follow this structure to give all employees plenty of support and recognition."