Parenting and professional equality

The difficult balance between professional and personal life, particularly parenthood, is one of the factors contributing to professional inequality between women and men:

• One in two female scientists considers that “work-life balance” and “the impact of motherhood on their career” are the two most important issues they face in the scientific/research world. (Ipsos for the L'Oréal Foundation, 2023, p.13). 
• The combination of time spent on pregnancy care, domestic tasks, and childcare creates a “triple shift”* for parents, particularly mothers: 80% of them devote more than an hour to unpaid domestic work, compared to 36% of men (Gender Equality Index 2020: France). 
• On Doctolib, 85% of medical appointments made for children are booked by mothers (data compiled by the Doctolib platform in 2022).
• The arrival of a child implies a “child penalty”  (a penalty on women's pay) of 30% over the child's first five years. There are few noticeable effects on fathers' pay, and in some cases, a salary advantage can be observed. Parenthood often means a slowdown in women's careers and pay (Meurs and Pora, 2019).  
• In France, women's direct retirement pensions (including any increases for three or more children) are 40% lower than men's in 2021. Taking into account survivor's pensions, this gap narrows to 28% (DREES, 2023).

How can these inequalities related to parenthood be explained?

This difficult balancing act is linked in particular to gender stereotypes: the different social roles and expectations placed on mothers and fathers, as well as the associated rights (length of maternity and paternity leave). There are also stereotypical and self-centered expectations of the ideal worker. According to several studies in the world of work, these expectations are centered on characteristics culturally associated with masculinity: “doesn't count hours,” “works full-time,” “responds to every email or call no matter what time of day or night,” “accepts last-minute schedule changes or travel,” “is never off work.” 

A 2020 study also shows that this extensive availability can only be maintained over time if domestic work (household chores, childcare and eldercare, mental load, etc.) is largely delegated to third parties or, more often than not, to the spouse in a heteronormative context. (Boni-Le Goff, 2020). 

*Boulet, E. (2021). La triple journée des femmes enceintes : l’encadrement des grossesses en France, entre droits des femmes et devoirs des mères. Enfances, Familles, Générations, (38). https://doi.org/10.7202/1086959ar