The Motherhood Penalty A Review Of Literature - 1406 Words

The motherhood penalty: A review of literature For over 150 years, women have been fighting back against patriarchy for the rights to our own bodies, careers and lives in general. The women’s movement has a accomplished great strides for humankind; however, women remain bound and suffocated by constructions patriarchy in both the private and public spheres. For many women, private and public spheres intersect and create a tension constructed by society that suggests that women must choose between family or career. Whichever choice a woman makes, she will likely be scrutinized, criticized and objectified for her decision. If a woman chooses to pursue her career, she risks being labeled as frigid and selfish. If a woman becomes a mother, she must devote her entire existence to raising her children, which existing literature refers to as ‘mothering,’ a verb, something that is done. Women in politics frequently experience this phenomenon commonly known as the motherhood trap, which can affect many different perspectives and identities. The motherhood trap will be explored in depth in the following review of literature. The motherhood trap unveils the deep, dark secrets of capitalism, in the way it relies so heavily on unpaid labor, often from women, in order to sustain itself. Women provide this unpaid labor at the cost of careers, and overall earning power. For example, if a woman exits the workforce for maternity leave, her wages will never bounce back from thisShow MoreRelatedLiterature Review : The United States Essay1505 Words   |  7 PagesChassidy Barnhardt Professor Redmond SOC 320 Section 1 September 29, 2016 Literature Review Literature Review The United States has quite a storied history in terms of discrimination towards women in the workplace. Such discrimination only increases when the events of childbirth are taken into account. When women give birth, they often opt to stay lengthy amounts of time with the members of the family as opposed to remaining in the workplace for the duration of their maternity leave. Thus, thereRead MoreEffects Of Gender Discrimination On The Workplace1229 Words   |  5 Pages Review of Literature The 1960s, is most commonly known for the concept of â€Å"free love† and the anti-war movement, but this era also gave rise to another feminist movement and women flocked to the workforce en masse. Over half a century has passed and there is no argument that this country, our country has made great strides in the area of gender equality in and out of the workplace. With that being said things are still not equal. Women still on average make less than men for the same jobs. EvenRead MoreWomen s Role For A Management Job2171 Words   |  9 Pageshave two jobs as opposed to one, in my opinion the option of opting out of maternity leave creates a problem as the issue arises when mothers take maternity leave and have to indirectly pay the price as discussed in the above paragraph, Much of the literature supports this working mother’s claim that maternity leave and the subsequent return to work decreases future advancement opportunities. Belkin (2003), taking maternity leav e is indeed the beginning of a career break or slow for mothers in paid occupationsRead MoreThe Standard Economic Theory ( Robbins )3306 Words   |  14 Pagesdata from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women (NLSYW) of 2,133 women who have been surveyed from 1968 to 1988. Waldfogel finds that even when controlling for actual experience and education level, â€Å"the penalty associated with having one child is over 5 percent, and the penalty for two or more children is over 13 percent† (p. 212). This gap flies in the face of the typically cited human capital theory (Waldfogel 1997). Waldfogel then proceeds to evaluate the alternative hypotheses ofRead MoreLiterature Review On Teen Pregnancy1344 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction This Literature Review gives a deep insight of some of the available literature related to teen pregnancy, neighborhood effects on poverty, and socio-economic effects of teen pregnancies. Teen pregnancy has become a significant issue in society. A large number of teen pregnancy and school dropouts have been recorded in the past and get associated with poverty. To understand teen pregnancy and its association with poverty; this literature review is going to examine some of the academicRead MoreGender Inequality Across All Professions1799 Words   |  8 Pagesin unequal pay, the second, which encompasses systemic problems of discrimination and gender â€Å"pay penalties,† contribute quite significantly to inequality in the workplace and to pay gaps in particular. This review of literature will help us to explore and further understand why gender inequality towards women in America still exists. Meritocracy and Structure in Gender Inequality Literature Review Gender inequality is broadly understood to be the unequal distribution of economic resources betweenRead MoreThe Differing Wage Levels And Income Inequality Essay1358 Words   |  6 Pagesconduct a study using regression analysis of cross sectional data to examine various different factors that affect wages considering education, marital and family status, gender, a number of control variables and how they are all connected. Review of Literature Education It is commonly accepted in theory and in empirical results, that in general, a higher level of education will yield a higher wage (Acemoglu and Autor 2011). In recent years there are studies to suggest that the importance of educationRead MoreThe Challenges Of Being a University Student and a Mom Essay1702 Words   |  7 Pagesidentities that are supported by a traditional college setting (Arnett, Ramos Jensen, 2001; Arnett, 2000) but instead already have an adult identity as a mother (Wilsey, 2013) with a different set of needs and because of the familial responsibility motherhood brings with it these women are no longer â€Å"traditional† students (Cross, 1981; Bean Metzer, 1985, 1987; Hazzard, 1993; Nora, Kraemer, Itzen, 1997; Sundberg, 1997). Further, existing research on postsecondary education indicates that, for manyRead MoreMeritocracy And Structure Of Gender Inequality1773 Words   |  8 Pagesdefined as meritocratic versus structural – shows that althoug h the first may play a role in unequal pay, the second, which encompasses systemic problems of discrimination and gender â€Å"pay penalties,† contribute quite significantly to inequality in the workplace and to pay gaps in particular. Literature Review Gender inequality is broadly understood to be the unequal distribution of economic resources between men and women. It is a nearly universal problem that women suffer from lower access toRead MoreGender Inequality1369 Words   |  6 Pagesjob position. Moreover, it may affect them at the workplace, like with their salary wages or any chance of growth in their career. For this research I gathered and compared other research studies that revolve around this research question. LITERATURE REVIEW Studies similar to this topic have showed that there are staggering discrepancies in income in the United States. Single mothers’ income was 21% lower that of single fathers in 2010. Moreover, studies have shown that single mothers are more likely