In Great Britain, women with children earn £302 less weekly than their male counterparts with children, which equates to a third less per week and almost 20% less per hour, as per data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This discrepancy means that Mums’ Equal Pay Day is on 1 September, nearly three months earlier than Equal Pay Day for all women. Essentially, after this date, mothers are effectively working for free for the rest of the year in comparison to fathers.
Joeli Brearley, founder of Growth Spurt, an online back-to-work scheme for parents, states that the gender pay gap significantly worsens after childbirth because having children disproportionately affects women’s earnings.
Apart from this, pregnancy and maternity-related discriminations are widespread, with around 74,000 women annually forced to leave their jobs simply for being pregnant or taking maternity leave. Also,onnen are more likely to face disadvantages as a result of taking maternity leave, including missed promotions and being sidelined at work.
Childcare costs represent significant barriers for women who wish to continue working or take up promotions, while the flexible and part-time jobs that many mothers need to balance work and care are unfortunately often low-paid and have limited opportunities for career advancement.
Brearley points out that mothers are disproportionately penalized in careers for requesting flexible working conditions. Furthermore, she noted that the current parental leave system reinforces gendered expectations, with mothers encouraged to take extended time off while fathers return to work more quickly. This not only implants the idea that caregiving is the responsibility of women but also means men’s careers continue to advance while women’s stagnate.
Penny East, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, which calculates Equal Pay Day, stated that motherhood creates a financial cliff edge for many women. Moreover, this, combined with the gender pay gap, can push many women into pension poverty in later life.
Dr. Mary-Ann Stephenson, director of the Women’s Budget Group, highlights how the earnings gap widens substantially when women become mothers. She emphasizes the importance of recognizing how the current leave system reinforces unpaid care responsibilities and calls for reform to allow parents to share both paid and unpaid work more equitably.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/aug/25/uk-mothers-earn-302-a-week-less-than-fathers-analysis-shows
