1 in 5 women lose out on professional careers due to motherhood

About one in five working women have missed out on having a professional job because they became mothers, according to new research from the University of Essex.

The study, published in the British Journal of Sociology, analysed the career trajectories of thousands of women in Britain and identified what the authors call the ‘motherhood class penalty’.

It shows that having children significantly increases a woman’s risk of downward career mobility and limits their access to high-status careers.

The research also found that this penalty is not evenly distributed. Mothers in lower professional roles - such as teachers, nurses and junior managers - experience the greatest long-term career setbacks, while working-class mothers are the most likely to leave the workforce completely.

Using data from the 1970 British Cohort Study to track women’s careers from the age of 16 to 42, the research compared mothers' actual career paths with what their careers might have looked like if they had not had children, so were unaffected by the ‘motherhood penalty’.

“Britain loses a significant share of its human capital when highly skilled women drop out of the workforce or step into lower-skilled jobs after becoming mothers,” said lead researcher Dr Giacomo Vagni, from the Department of Sociology and Criminology.

“This is not inevitable. It comes from a systemic flaw in Britain’s work-family model that penalises mothers. In countries where parenthood is more equally supported, having a child does not carry this cost for working women.

“Improving childcare provision is essential, but so too is a cultural shift in which fathers play an equal role in mitigating this penalty.”

Women in lower professional roles before childbirth face the steepest penalty. The study estimated about 70 per cent of working women at this career level would have stayed in professional roles or been promoted, compared with only 56 per cent who actually did after becoming mothers.

Although women in higher professional roles - such as lawyers, doctors and senior managers - experienced a smaller penalty of around five percentage points, motherhood still interrupted their progression to senior positions and leadership roles. Many saw their careers shift sideways into less demanding posts, while others reached a permanent career plateau.

“Professional mothers tend to stay in work, but they pay the price in slower promotions and fewer opportunities to reach senior positions.” added Dr Vagni.

Overall, the study found that professional mothers, whatever level, faced career stagnation, whilst working-class mothers were more likely to stop work entirely after having children.