Mothers face disadvantages in getting hired
When asked if they would hire these applicants, participants said they would hire 84 percent of the women without children, compared with only 47 percent of the mothers. In assigning a starting salary to the applicants, given a pay range appropriate for the job, participants offered non-mothers an average of $11,000 more than mothers.
"According to our theory, women who have children are held to a harsher performance standard than women who do not. We asked how many days the applicant could be late before they would not be seen as 'management material,' and the mothers were allowed significantly fewer days than non-mothers," said Correll, whose courses include the Sociology of Gender. She also is a faculty affiliate of Cornell's Center for the Study of Inequality.
Correll and Benard also studied perceptions of fatherhood in evaluations of male job candidates. Participants were given the same information in the resumes and memos and were asked the same questions, but men's names replaced women's on the applications.
"The question is, are mothers the ones who suffer a penalty, or is it parents?" Correll said. "We found fathers are in no way disadvantaged. And, on several measures they are actually advantaged, such as being seen as more committed to their jobs than non-fathers."
Participants offered applicants who were fathers an average of $6,000 more in salary than the non-fathers, and "fathers were allowed to be late more frequently. They were actually held to a more lenient standard than the non-fathers." Correll said.
