Friday, September 20, 2002

A story published today by the Christian Science Monitor reports that single mothers, say experts, are treated differently at work from other employees. They typically have a harder time finding stable employment, are paid less, and have less opportunity for advancement than other workers.

Single fathers face the same issues. Experts say the stigma is related more to responsibility than to gender. But only 1 in 6 single working parents is a father with sole custody, according to census data.

"There's a lot of prejudice in the workplace" directed toward single mothers, says Gina Delmastro of the Gottman Institute, a Seattle-based marriage and family therapy clinic. "They still face the stigma of being divorced."

With that stigma comes greater difficulty in finding jobs, say experts, because employers tend to view them as less flexible.

A new American University Law School study shows businesswomen are rated as similar in competence to businessmen – until they have children, at which point they are rated similar to the elderly. Those polled represented a broad public cross section, not just prospective employers.

This perception, say experts, has triggered a small wave of discrimination lawsuits.

"Courts are beginning to understand that an employee, despite an impeccable performance record, may experience workplace discrimination once he or she becomes a parent, or begins a flexible work arrangement to accommodate child rearing," says AU executive director Joan Williams.

Single mothers make up about 18 percent of the workforce, according to the US Department of Labor. As a group, they earn about 20 percent less on average than single women or married moms.

Ken Siegel, organizational psychologist and chief executive of The Impact Group, a corporate-management consultancy, says single working mothers tend to hit a glass ceiling because management perceives they have limits to how much they can take on.

Another reason single mothers have more difficulty advancing their careers, say experts, is the inability to take part in social activities after work.

"It's the old adage that more business gets done on the golf course than in the office," says Siegel. "The extracurricular social world in business is much more difficult for a single mom to navigate."

A lack of high-quality, extended-hour day care is a stumbling block for many single mothers. Corporate and government-sponsored day-care assistance could help, say experts.

But perhaps the biggest step toward finding a solution, say experts, is admitting there is a problem.

"This is one of the undiscussables that people are aware of but don't have the courage to bring up," says Siegel. "Right now, no one wants to acknowledge the problem."