The intersection of sexism and racism mean that often women of colour experience compounded disadvantage.
This report from the Fawcett Society, supported by the #EthnicityPayGap Campaign, shows how the ‘Motherhood Pay Penalty’—that mothers with two children take home 26% less income than women without children—impacts on a woman’s income and earning power throughout her working life, and compounds the effects of the ethnicity pay gap.
The biggest driver of the motherhood pay penalty is reduction in hours worked, which is often associated with poor-quality part-time work. This report shows that the options for picking up more hours after having children are limited for Black and minoritised women because of the dual impacts of sexism and racism, with many dropping out of the workforce entirely. The research shows that:
- While mothers of all ethnicities move into part-time work at similar rates, there are stark differences by ethnicity in the number of mothers who leave the workforce completely
- The employment rate of white mothers is 5 percentage points lower than that of white women without children, whilst women of Indian, Black African, and Chinese heritage see penalties of up to 11 percentage points compared with women without children of their own ethnicities
- 38% of mothers of Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage are employed vs 55% of all women in the same ethnic group – this 17-percentage point employment gap is the highest of all ethnicities.
