Canadians facing ‘pervasive motherhood penalty’ at work, report says
Working women in Canada are facing a “pervasive motherhood penalty,” with 70 per cent of employed mothers saying they don’t feel they have adequate support from their employers, according to a new report.
The report by Maturn and The Brand is Female published Wednesday highlighted a string of challenges working mothers in Canada face during and after maternity leave and the steps employers can take to better support them.
“I think what this report really illuminates is that pervasive motherhood penalty, which is a systemic problem that contributes significantly to the wage gap, prompts women to leave and exit the workforce and really hinders their ability to ascend into leadership positions,” said Sonja Baikogli Foley, co-founder of Maturn, a Canadian organization supporting mothers through maternity leave transition.
Almost half of the Canadian working mothers who were surveyed said they were not satisfied with their employer’s support during maternity leave and as a result, a third also considered quitting their jobs.
“Those are really big stats that we should be paying attention to because working mothers are an integral part of our economy,” Foley said in an interview with Global News.
“We need to revisit how we are looking and treating mothers in our organizations and as a society as a whole.”
More than 1,000 employed mothers in Canada who had taken maternity leave over the last seven years were surveyed online in October 2023 and those findings were included in the report.
More than half (52 per cent) of the women polled said they were anxious about returning to work after maternity leave and 49 per cent said the feeling of having to prove their professional worth again upon return was the most challenging part of
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