Having It All · Episode 5 of 10 · 21 min
The Motherhood Penalty: The Childcare Bill Nixon Vetoed
Studies show mothers pay a wage penalty of roughly 5 to 7 percent per child, and in audit experiments identical resumes from mothers drew half the callbacks of childless women. In December 1971 a universal, sliding-scale childcare act passed both chambers with bipartisan support. President Nixon vetoed it, warning against communal approaches to child rearing, and the override failed by fifteen votes.
Who's who
- Richard Nixon+15 more episodesPresident who vetoed the Comprehensive Child Development Act in 1971
- Pat BuchananNixon speechwriter who pushed the veto message toward an ideological argument
- Walter MondaleSenate champion of the childcare bill
- Michelle BudigSociologist who quantified the motherhood penalty and fatherhood bonus
- Paula EnglandSociologist, co-author of the 2001 wage-penalty study
- Shelley CorrellStanford sociologist whose experiments caught hiring bias against mothers
- Sylvia Ann Hewlett+1 more episodeEconomist who documented childlessness among high-achieving women
- Felice SchwartzCatalyst founder whose 1989 article ignited the 'mommy track' debate
Where it happens
- Washington, D.C.+31 more episodesWhere Congress passed and Nixon vetoed the childcare bill
Timeline
- December 1971Senate and House pass the Comprehensive Child Development Act
- December 1971Nixon vetoes it; the Senate override fails 51-36
- October 1978Pregnancy Discrimination Act signed
- February 1993Family and Medical Leave Act signed: 12 weeks, unpaid
- 2001Budig and England publish 'The Wage Penalty for Motherhood'
- 2007Correll audit study finds childless women called back at 2.1 times the rate
Still debated
How much of the motherhood penalty is discrimination versus lost experience, hours and occupational choice is unsettled; Correll's experiments prove hiring bias exists but not what share of lifetime wage gaps it explains.
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