Other people also have to deal with childcare, chores, and education while trying to get a job, you know.
Yes, we do know! Raising a family is a major job that honestly does require a village. Moms (and women) are not the only people trying to juggle family responsibilities, money goals, career moves, and somewhere in there, their own happiness. Moms aren’t the only people facing career barriers.
Our resources are free for anyone who need them. This includes moms as well as step-moms, trans moms, grandmothers, older sisters, eldest daughters, aunts, godmothers, cousins, foster moms, and all the other women out there raising kids.
If we can help dads, step-dads, trans dads, grandpas, older brothers, uncles, god-fathers, male cousins, foster dads, and caregivers not bound by the gender binary, too, that’s also amazing. We believe that education changes lives. We’re not particular about who we help get educated and build a better life for their families.
However, there are reasons this site focuses specifically on moms. Women traditionally (and currently) carry a heavy burden of family caregiving. This responsibility is a major hurdle that’s kept women uneducated, underemployed, underpaid, and often trapped without opportunities. Mothering has impacted women’s lives for millennia, and their modern career prospects for decades. Recent events like the pandemic have only made the situation worse.
Explore some of the reasons we’re specifically focusing on moms, not parents in general, women in general, or people in general.
COVID-19 Created New Moms Career Barriers
The U.S. Department Of Labor reports that the COVID-19 pandemic “disproportionately impacted women,” and especially young mothers.
Millions of moms lost their jobs during COVID-19 thanks to a perfect storm of inflexible work schedules, disappearing schools and childcare options, a lack of remote work, and increased childcare expectations. These women’s careers were often clustered in service industry hubs such as retail, food service, and hospitality that were seriously impacted by quarantine measures. Health care, education, government, and other “pink collar” jobs were also hard-hit by COVID closures.
COVID has has lasting impacts on the entire economy, but women—and specifically moms—have fared the worst. The career barriers moms see after COVID is one major reason why we started MGAJ.
Moms Face A Worse Wage Gap Than Other Women AND Other Parents
The wage gap is a serious and ongoing problem. Department Of Labor describes the wage gap as a group of “systemic issues” leading to “lower pay for working women – not just gender discrimination, but also racial discrimination, the devaluation of “women’s” work, the absence of supports for essential family care and more.”
Women’s average earnings are just 82% of men’s wages. And since this is an average figure, it means than many women earn far less. Most women of color earn less than white women. Hispanic women in the workforce only receive 57% of the average white man’s salary. The wage gap leads to major problems that trap families in poverty.
However, some research shows that a woman’s choice to have children is an driving factor in her own personal wage gap. Research in Denmark—which boasts some of the world’s best parental leave, universal childcare, and equal pay policies—shows that women still earn less money once they become mothers.
Despite having a year of paid leave and dirt-cheap government-backed daycare, Danish mothers earn less than Danish fathers. They also earn less than women who don’t have children. Studies on American moms are finding the same effect.
Mothers are uniquely at risk for career harm thanks to their parental status. That’s another reason MGAJ focus on moms.
Moms Career Barriers Include Childcare, Housework, And Other Unpaid Labor
Even in 2022, mothers still do a huge amount of unpaid family labor. Childcare, elder care, cleaning, cooking, shopping, errands, appointments, and other responsibilities slowly chip away at a mother’s free time. The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation And Development reports that American women do 105 more minutes of unpaid labor every day than men do. This adds up to more than 12 hours of unpaid work every week!
Think about what you could do with 12 more hours in your week, or 48 hours a month. This unpaid labor represents enough time to pick up a hobby, exercise on a daily basis, catch up on sleep, watch all your favorite TV—or to go back to school and train for a new career.
Fathers, other parents, and women without kids simply have more free time in their schedules than moms do. MGAJ focuses on moms caught in the trap of unpaid labor to help them find solutions to this role-specific problem.
Moms Are Our Priority, But Everyone Is Welcome
We’re not here to argue that parenting is easy for fathers and non-binary parents. We also don’t think that going back to school or starting a new career is simple as long as you’re not a mom. What we do recognize is that mothers face a special set of challenges that simply don’t impact other people in the same ways.
That’s why our focus is on moms as they navigate exploring options, heading back to school, and entering the workforce. But we’re not an exclusive club. We love education, we love careers, and we love families. If these things speak to you, then you’re in the right place—mom or not.
References
Delamator, E., & Livingston, G. (2021, July 21). More than statistics: How covid-19 is impacting working women. U.S. Department of Labor. https://blog.dol.gov/2021/07/21/more-than-statistics-how-covid-19-is-impacting-working-women
Jones, J. (2021, March 19). 5 facts about the state of the gender pay gap. U.S. Department of Labor. https://blog.dol.gov/2021/03/19/5-facts-about-the-state-of-the-gender-pay-gap
Karageorge, E. X. (2020, September). Covid-19 recession is tougher on women. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2020/beyond-bls/covid-19-recession-is-tougher-on-women.htm
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (n.d.). Employment : Time spent in paid and unpaid work, by sex. https://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?queryid=54757
Perry, M.J. (2018, January 23). New research from Denmark finds that motherhood and a “child penalty” are responsible for the gender earnings gap. American Enterprise Institute. https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/new-research-from-denmark-finds-that-motherhood-and-a-child-penalty-are-responsible-for-the-gender-earnings-gap1/