Who can ‘have it all’? Job quality and parenthood in the UK

Dr Rose Cook, Laura Jones and Professor Sara Connolly Funded by the Nuffield Foundation

There is a motherhood penalty in job quality.

Whilst pay is an important marker of a ‘good’ job, other aspects of work – such as the demands it places on workers, the level of control they have, working hours, flexibility and job security – also impact employees’ wellbeing significantly.(Green et al, 2024) This is known as ‘job quality’. Our research shows that mothers, particularly those with young children, face multiple disadvantages when it comes to job quality. We have termed this the ‘motherhood penalty in job quality’. Contrary to the perception that mothers are less committed to work, 70% would continue to work even if they didn’t need to financially. Yet, mothers of young children, in particular, report having less autonomy at work. For instance, mothers with children under five are 10 percentage points more likely than fathers with similar-aged children to say they have ‘no control’ over their working time. This group of mothers are also 14 percentage points less likely than equivalent fathers to say they have ‘a lot of control’ over their work tasks.

Mothers are also more likely to have jobs that are poor quality on multiple measures (which we term: ‘all-round poor-quality jobs’). For instance, mothers of school aged children are 5 percentage points (primary age) and 7 percentage points (secondary age) more likely to be in these poor-quality jobs than women without children. Conversely, mothers are underrepresented in high-quality jobs – those with attributes including good work-life balance, control over working hours and control over job tasks. For instance, compared to women without children, mothers of primary aged children are 11 percentage points less likely to have these high-quality jobs.

Part time jobs are more likely to be poor-quality.

When it comes to the ability to control their schedule and have autonomy over their time and work location, mothers lose out. Ironically, this appears to be linked to them working part time, suggesting that, despite being understood as a form of flexible working, part time jobs provide less overall flexibility than full time jobs. Mothers are more likely than women without children to work overtime, again linked to working part time. This is likely because part time jobs have a full-time workload or are not financially viable, so additional paid hours are needed. This suggests both that part time jobs are not properly designed, not adequately paid, or both. Mothers’ tendency to work part time also mostly accounts for their higher likelihood of
working in all-round poor-quality jobs and their lower likelihood of working in all-round high-quality jobs.

There is a ‘fatherhood bonus’ in some aspects of job quality.

Although fatherhood makes less difference to men’s job quality than motherhood does to women’s, our analysis also suggests a fatherhood ‘bonus’ in some areas, particularly flexibility, autonomy, and access to all-round high-quality jobs. For instance, in 2020/21, 45% of fathers said they had ‘a great deal’ of autonomy over what tasks to do at work, compared to 35% of mothers. A third of fathers said they had ‘a great deal’ of control over their working time and schedule, compared to a quarter of mothers. Such differences were not found between men and women without children.

Mothers and fathers make different job quality trade-offs.

Both mothers and fathers make job quality trade-offs, but of a very different nature. Mothers are more likely to sacrifice career progression and rewards in favour of control over their working time and flexibility. Fathers more commonly sacrifice family-friendly work schedules for high rewards and prospects. Mothers and fathers also explain and justify their job quality trade-offs in different ways. However, in emphasising these trade-offs and their gendered nature, we should also
remember that some mothers don’t have the ability to make trade-offs: mothers are more likely to have jobs that are poor in all aspects, with no benefits whatsoever. Moreover, fathers are more likely to have all-round high-quality jobs, where no trade-offs are required.

Recommendations

1. Provide more support for working mothers
2. Improve the quality of part time jobs
3. Broaden the scope of flexible working and continue to make it more widely accessible
4. Conduct further research into the motherhood penalty in job quality

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