Motherhood and unpaid care work at the root of the Gender Pay Gap

21.04.19

European Union - The EU delegation of MMM responded to the public consultation of the European Commission on 'equal pay' in April 2019 which gathered views from stakeholders on the impact of the EU rules on equal pay for work of equal value.

In November 2017, the Commission adopted an Action Plan to tackle the Gender Pay Gap. The objective of the consultation was to assess if the current legal framework needs to be reviewed. The Gender Pay Gap is at 16% at EU level and it is stagnating in many countries.

In our response, we highlighted that the Gender Pay Gap is the result of many complex factors including vertical and horizontal occupational segregation, as well as direct pay discrimination, but that it is mainly linked to motherhood. In our society, women, especially mothers, perform the largest share of unpaid care work (i.e. household work, caring for children, disabled person, frail and older people), a work which is not valued. As a result, mothers suffer from specific discriminations linked to motherhood, the so-called “motherhood penalty“, which includes a motherhood wage gap, i.e. a difference in wages between mothers and women without children.

MMM also underlined that women’s unequal pay does not just hurt women, but that it is a cost for society as a whole. There is also a strong link between the gender pay gap and child poverty.

Our report presents the state of play of the gender pay gap in the European Union, the underlying causes and links to the unequal distribution of unpaid family care work, a summary of the current situation in Belgium, and finally some recommendations.

The fact that mothers suffer a wage penalty raises major concerns that go beyond gender inequality. This issue ultimately questions the capacity of societies to manage a sustainable balance between their economic aim of active female participation in paid work and the social aims of providing a fair distribution of income to support the reproduction and rearing of children.

MMM Response to the Consultation and Annex

 

 

Most read articles

Envisioning care as a common thread to global crises

29.07.24

UN New York - Our virtual HLPF side-event brought together experts to shed light on how the various global crises we face (in particular climate change and other environmental crises,

Lire plus

We call for multi-stakeholder approach to recognise and support unpaid care work

21.07.24

UN New York - Participating in the meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on care and support systems, MMM reaffirmed the principle of co-responsibility, which should underpin

Lire plus

The New EU Gender Equality Roadmap : A Call for Inclusion of Mothers

04.03.25

The European Commission’s initiative on a new Gender Equality Roadmap post-2025, marks a significant step forward in addressing gender disparities across the European Union. Make Mothers Matter (MMM

Lire plus
See all the articlesof the category

Latest News from MMM and its Network

Joint Letter to EU Leaders: MMM and Partners Advocate for Strategic Investment in Children and Families

09.07.25

Make Mothers Matter, along with 24 member organisations of the Alliance for Investing in Children, has sent a joint letter to Ursula von der Leyen (President of the European Commission), Roberta Metsola (Presid

Read more

Unpaid Care at the Core: A Catalyst for Achieving the SDGs

06.07.25

UN New York / HLPF - Register now to join us online for our High Level Political Forum side-event.

Read more

Placing Target 5.4 at the Core: A Key to Accelerating SDG Synergies

06.07.25

UN New York – Ahead of the 2025 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) MMM's written statement focuses on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 on Gender equality, which is under review this year. More specifically

Read more

Financing for development: time to invest in Care and Wellbeing

06.07.25

From 30 June to 3 July, Make Mothers Matter was in Sevilla, Spain, for the 4th UN International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4). Here’s a look back at this major UN event and the key takeaways

Read more

Financing for development matters for mothers

05.07.25

Following the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Sevilla, Spain, we explore why Financing for Development is critical for mothers around the world.

Read more

Belgian Mothers Face Alarming Rates of Burnout and Perinatal Depression, New EU Survey Finds

03.07.25

Belgian mothers are facing a mental health crisis. According to the State of Motherhood in Europe 2024 survey by Make Mothers Matter (MMM) and Kantar, Belgium reports the highest rates of both maternal burnout

Read more