Motherhood Holds Back EU Women: Study

Domestic duties lock female workers into lower pay, status
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 6, 2007 4:57 PM CST
Motherhood Holds Back EU Women: Study
   (Shutterstock)

Motherhood has its joys, but professional advancement isn’t necessarily one of them, a study of European women shows. Taking on domestic duties has kept them in lower-paying, lower-status jobs; after having kids, women tend to spend more hours at home and not enough in the office to earn promotion. Top jobs belong to men, on the other side of the "lifestyle divide."

“The working lifestyles of most people in Europe still seem to be determined by gender,” the report’s author tells the Guardian, marveling that figures have barely changed since 1991. The gap cuts both ways; men make more but have lower job satisfaction than their part-time-laborer spouses. Researchers suggest men help more at home and take their parental-leave entitlements. (More European Union stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X