The motherhood penalty
Working mothers tend to feel more of the financial impact of high child care costs than their male counterparts because they’re more likely to reduce their hours, take lower-paying jobs or leave the workforce to accommodate for caregiving. Bankrate’s Motherhood Penalty Study found full-time working mothers earned 31 percent less in wages than full-time working fathers in 2023. If that wage gap remained the same over 30 years, those lost wages could add up to roughly half a million for working mothers.