Events

It is increasingly common in the United States for women who have children to do so while being employed. In a context of demanding jobs and family responsibilities together with increasing state-level paid family leave policies, the expectation that women are at risk of having a child and needing time away from work can be a source of uncertainty for employers. In this paper, I propose the concept of future childbearing risk (FCR) as a distinctive aspect of the motherhood penalty. Through two experimental studies, I demonstrate that high FCR is associated with stereotypes concerning increased risk and cost compared to low-FCR women. Additionally, a qualitative interview study reveals that managers adhere to strong norms related to leave-taking, reflecting their anticipations and concerns with employees perceived as high-risk for future childbearing. By juxtaposing future childbearing risk with current motherhood status, I illustrate how FCR is an important dimension of motherhood that enriches our theoretical and empirical comprehension of gender and parental status disparities in the labor market.

The Sociology Seminar Series for Trinity Term is convened by Juliana de Castro Galvao, Pablo Geraldo and David Kretschmer.  For more information about this or any of the seminars in the series, please contact sociology.secretary@nuffield.ox.ac.uk.