Motherhood and Employment Among Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks: A Life Course Approach

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12448
• Author: Sandra M. Florian
• Date: 01 February 2018
• Published date: 01 February 2018

S M. F University of Pennsylvania

Motherhood and Employment Among Whites,

Hispanics, and Blacks: A Life Course Approach

Research has shown that having children

reduces women’s employment; yet how this

effect differs for racial minorities has received

less attention. Using random effects models and

data from the National Longitudinal Survey of

Youth (N=4,526), this study investigates the

association between motherhood and employ-

ment among Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks over

women’s entire reproductive span. Results indi-

cate that having children reduces labor force

participation primarily by deterring full-time

employment. This effect is stronger and lasts

longer among Whites, smaller and shorter

among Hispanics, and brief among Blacks.

Motherhood reduces part-time employment for

young mothers, but temporarily increases it

for older mothers. Early childbearing partly

explains Black and Hispanic women’s low

employment rates at young ages; interestingly,

the evidence indicates that their employment

prospects would benet the most from delaying

childbearing. This study highlights the rele-

vance of intersectionality and the life course

perspective for investigating inequality in the

labor market.

Women constitute nearly half of the U.S. labor

force; however, they still face signicant chal-

lenges to remaining employed when they have

Department of Sociology, Population Studies Center,

University of Pennsylvania, 3718 Locust Way, McNeil

Building, Ste. 288, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6298

(sorian@upenn.edu).

Key Words: intersectionality, labor force participation, life

course, maternal employment, motherhood, race.

children. A vast literature demonstrates that

women pay a penalty in labor market outcomes

when they become mothers (Budig, 2003; Budig

& England, 2001; England, Garcia-Beaulieu,

& Ross, 2004; Kahn, García-Manglano, &

Bianchi, 2014; Killewald & García-Manglano,

2016). Most research on the motherhood penalty

has focused on the returns to employment,

investigating the drop in wages and occupa-

tional status among employed women (Budig &

England, 2001; Budig & Hodges, 2010; Eng-

land, Bearak, Budig, & Hodges, 2016; Glauber,

2007; Miller, 2011; Taniguchi, 1999). Fewer

studies have examined how motherhood shapes

the dynamics of women’s labor force participa-

tion over the life course, and less attention has

been paid to the experiences of racial minority

women. Although investigating the impact of

motherhood on the returns to employment is

important, it fails to capture the experiences

of women whose labor market participation is

jeopardized by having children. Analyzing how

motherhood intersects with race, differentially

shaping the employment trajectories of women

from various racial and ethnic backgrounds,

is crucial for obtaining a more holistic under-

standing of the impact of motherhood on labor

market outcomes.

Feminist scholars have challenged hegemonic

gender and motherhood ideologies, claiming

that motherhood elicits distinct cultural expecta-

tions that differently impact the work decisions

of women of color (Browne, 1999; Collins,

1990; Dow, 2016). Scholars have argued that

White and, to a lesser extent, Hispanic mothers

are more strongly inuenced by an intensive

134 Journal of Marriage and Family 80 (February 2018): 134–149

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12448

Motherhood and Employment Across Race and Age 135

motherhood ideology that pressures mothers

to prioritize child rearing over paid work,

whereas Blacks are subject to an alternative

ideology that compels mothers to be econom-

ically self-sufcient (Blair-Loy, 2003; Browne

& Kennelly, 1999; Damaske,2011; Dow, 2016).

Consistent with these arguments, some studies

have found that Black mothers are more likely to

be employed, indicating that motherhood has a

stronger deterrent effect on employment among

Whites and Hispanics (Budig, 2003; Dow,2016;

England et al., 2004).

Although prior research has provided impor-

tant insights into the racial variation in the effect

of motherhood, most of these studies have either

focused on the early childbearing years or have

provided aggregated average racial differences

over a period of time (Budig, 2003; England

et al., 2004; Hynes & Clarkberg, 2005; Miller,

2011). As women increasingly postpone child-

bearing to older ages, it becomes important to

also evaluate how motherhood affects employ-

ment at later stages of the life course. Prior stud-

ies have indicated that early childbearing exacer-

bates the impact of motherhood on employment,

whereas delaying childbearing improves moth-

ers’ employment prospects (García-Manglano,

2015; Miller, 2011; Taniguchi, 1999). Yet it is

unclear whether the benets of delayed mother-

hood apply to racial minority women. Although

it is well documented that Hispanic and Black

women are less likely to postpone motherhood,

often beginning childbearing at younger ages

than Whites, little research has explored the

extent to which the variation in the onset of

childbearing shapes racial disparities in employ-

ment over the life course.

Drawing from the intersectionality and

life course perspectives, this study advances

research by investigating how motherhood

impacts the employment trajectories of White,

Black, and Hispanic women, examining the role

of early and delayed childbearing in shaping

racial differentials in women’s labor force par-

ticipation across stages of the life course. This

study further disaggregates labor force partici-

pation into full-time and part-time employment.

The results reveal important differences in the

effect of motherhood over the life course, with

signicant variation by race and level of work

involvement. Interestingly, the ndings suggest

that delaying motherhood is more benecial for

the employment prospects of racial minority

women. Averaging the effect of motherhood

over time and across racial groups obscures

these important variations. This study provides

new evidence of the intersection of gender, race,

class, and family processes in the labor market.

B

The entry of mothers to the labor force has

been a key component of the growth of female

labor force participation in recent decades.

In 1948, only 17% of married women with

children younger than age 18 were in the labor

force, a gure that reached 70% in 1995, and

then plateaued (Cohany & Sok, 2007). Despite

progress toward gender equality in the labor

market, women still bear a disproportionate

share of domestic and child-rearing respon-

sibilities that limits their time for paid work

(Damaske, 2011; Jacobs & Gerson, 2004; Stone,

2007). A body of literature continues to show

that having children hinders women’s employ-

ment (Budig, 2003; England et al., 2004; Hynes

& Clarkberg, 2005; Kahn et al., 2014; Kille-

wald & García-Manglano, 2016). Nonetheless,

the dynamics of employment and motherhood

among women of color have received less atten-

tion. Black and less-advantaged women have

historically had higher employment rates than

White and privileged women, but as education

and other forms of human capital gained impor-

tance in the labor market, this pattern reversed.

White and more advantaged women are now

more likely to be employed than Blacks and

Hispanics (Browne, 1999; England et al., 2004;

Reid, 2002). Yetless is known about when in the

life course the racial gaps in women’s employ-

ment emerge, how they evolve over time, and

how they are shaped by having children. This

study addresses these important issues draw-

ing from two major theoretical frameworks,

namely, the intersectionality and the life course

perspectives.

The intersectionality framework posits that

inequality is the result of the interplay of mul-

tiple dimensions of privilege and disadvantage

(Baca Zinn & Dill, 1996; Browne & Misra,

2003; McCall, 2001). Womenof color hold mul-

tiple marginalized positions in gender, race, and

class that differently shape their work trajecto-

ries and family experiences (Browne & Misra,

2003; Collins, 1990). Because women have his-

torically been economically dependent on their

parents or husbands, the entry of women into the

labor market in recent decades has often been