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Motherhood -- How much is it worth?


Ann Crittenden

By Kathy Slobogin
CNN

"Parents in America do not get paid parental leave. We're one of six countries in the world that does not offer that." -- Ann Crittenden

(CNN) -- Mother's Day is associated with its flood of gifts, cards and paeans to motherhood. But America doesn't put its money where its mouth is, according to Ann Crittenden, author of a provocative new book called "The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World Is Still the Least Valued."

Crittenden had been a Pulitzer Prize nominee and a reporter for Fortune, Newsweek and the New York Times when she had a baby 17 years ago and decided to stay home with her child. Her experience led to her researching and writing a book which concludes that our national devotion to motherhood is mostly lip service.

CNN's Family and Education correspondent Kathy Slobogin sat down for a conversation with Crittenden to find out why she feels mothers are short-changed.

VIDEO

CNN's Kathy Slobogin talks with author Ann Crittenden about the price of motherhood (May 11)

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Slobogin: How much do we really value motherhood in this society?

Crittenden: One good example I discovered myself about two years ago. I got an estimate from the Social Security on what I could expect when I retire. And I looked at the statement and it's full of zeroes, and I thought what is this? Every zero represented a year I was working for the family instead of my own career. That's the value the government or the society puts on it.

Slobogin: You've written that mothers pay a "mommy tax." What do you mean by that?

Crittenden: Most mothers today are working; in fact most mothers with children under 18 are in the full-time labor force. But they can't take the jobs that offer promotion quite often. They can't take jobs that require a lot of overtime or jobs that require a lot of travel.... It's now been estimated that if you have one child and you're a college graduate, your lifetime earnings will be about a million dollars lower than a woman who does not have a child. That is what I call a "mommy tax."

A lot of our best and brightest women are not having children because we put such a high price on it. They have to give up so much of their training, their education, their love of their work.

Slobogin: What about the complaints of non-parents who say that parents get all the breaks in the workplace?

Crittenden: First of all, parents in the United States get almost no breaks in the workplace like parents in Europe, for instance. Parents in America do not get paid parental leave. We're one of six countries in the world that does not offer that.... Also, we now have data showing that parents, particularly women who are the caregivers in the family, make up to 20 percent less money than similar women without children. So parents not only get very few breaks from employers, they're also taking a huge wage hit just because they have children.

Slobogin: Your book has been called a challenge to both conservatives and feminists.

Crittenden: Conservatives often give motherhood a lot of lip service and sentimental value but they don't give it any material value.... Often the feminist strategy when it comes to raising children has been, get the men to do it. Let's bring the men in and have equal parenting. Well, for 30 years we've been saying that and for some reason the men are not equal parents. And I think part of the problem has been that if you do become the primary caregiver in the family you pay an enormous financial price. You make huge economic sacrifices, and men aren't too willing to do that.

Slobogin: Do we need a new women's movement?

Crittenden: I think so, a new mother's movement.