What’s a mother's work really worth?
Every year around Mother’s Day, Salary.com posts a calculation of what price a mom’s services would command on the open market, correctly pointing out that mothers don't get enough respect for the work they do.
The time Canadian mothers spend on the 10 most popular “mom jobs” would translate into a salary of $132,288 for a stay-at-home Mom. Working Moms could expect to generate $82,220 on top of their regular pay.
How do the folks at Salary.com arrive at such hefty numbers? To create their estimate, the researchers created a hybrid of 10 different jobs – each with different salaries – and then considered the market value for mom's most common jobs and tasks.
The job titles include: laundry machine operator, janitor, van driver, computer operator, housekeeper, day care center teacher, cook, chief executive officer, psychologist, and facilities manager.
According to the study’s findings, a working mom puts in more than 96 hours a week when you combine her full-time job, mom hours, and mom overtime – an increase of four hours from last year.
The jump seems largely attributed to spending more time preparing meals, making sure the home stays in good repair, and shuttling the family to activities.
If you’d like to see where your family might fit on the 'unappreciated' scale, try using this wizard to replicate your own representative pay cheque.
But don’t get to carried away, warns Kristin Maschka, national spokesperson for Mothers & More, and the author of Remodeling Motherhood to Get the Lives We Want Today.
Calculations like these always sound inflated and therefore end up trivializing the very real importance of assigning economic value to care giving work – no matter who is doing it, she maintains.
Plus, they reinforce an outdated assumption that mothers are – or should be the only ones doing this family work, she argues.
Is putting a number on unpaid work a useful exercise? Do you even believe the numbers in the first place?
By Gordon Powers, MSN Money
Posted by: Grace | May 28, 2021 2:51:42 PM
I think that the Tyna character is very ignorant. i cannot count the times my mother cleaned up my mess when i was sick. It is one thing to clean up your own puke try cleaning up after 9 children. It is nothing like cleaning up after yourself. Looking after your own needs does not make you a care giver. A caregiver looks after others in need. The magic word OTHERS. Add an N and you get it again. Mothers.
Posted by: Paul Munzer | May 28, 2021 2:56:00 PM
What utter tripe. I'm not discounting the value of the work mothers do but Kristin Maschka in the article has it right. These sorts of inflated calculations only serve to trivialize the work done by mothers. All of you mindlessly chiming in that this is useful look at the actual jobs listed: Facilities manager? CEO? psychologist? and the absolute worst one, computer operator. Computer operator???? what the hell. Since when does knowing how to use a computer qualify you as a computer operator? This is a rubbish article which only serves to trivialize the amazing work mothers do by being so over the top and hyperbolic.
Posted by: mom - undervalued! <3 but very loved! | May 28, 2021 3:03:48 PM
Nothing in the world is more important then our youth! Having a "parent" available to model, show them how to be better people - how to make this world a better place, how to be responsible - loving - etc - is there a dollar figure to it? no. Tragedy, but thankfully this is not the reason I had children, I got to parent alone, they have an active father - who basically contradicted every action I did, again, money was not the reason to have them and it is at great cost to a person, however the monetary gain is fantastic from a hearts space. Parents are undervalued, beaurocrats are over valued! Perhaps this is why we seem to be working for the government and presuming that they are responsible for our lot in life and our retirement years....
in terms of the controversial "ignorant" (meaning they speak with only tunnel vision and complete naievety) comments made about parenting - dollar value etc....
I can take to my grave the beautiful magical moments of being a mother to my fantastic children! That does my soul far more good then a dollar - (and I chose a poverished existance to be with my children)
Posted by: Grace | May 28, 2021 3:10:10 PM
We do all those jobs whether people believe it or not. I had to manage my own money to make sure the family had enough. When mothers raise their families they are not given the time of day sometimes when it comes to jobs after the family is grown. It IS a job that is undervalued. i can't be sure but i don't think that you can put that you raised a family on a resume. We use those youthful years to raise a family. I would not have it any other way as far as my kids go i would not trade them for anything. But the work a day world put youth ahead when it comes to jobs. I have been there. Then when the kids go wrong the mother is given the blame. say what you want. mothers do the job and then take the flack for everything.
Posted by: dibly | May 28, 2021 5:28:10 PM
I think there should be a fathers day annual calculation based on the work fathers do at home in addition to the costs of mental anguish at having to be away from our children most of the time just so our families have a place to live and food to eat. I would love to be able to stay home all day looking after and being with my children instead of working 10 hours a day, and then a lot of the time being too tired and just falling asleep when I do get home! women think they have it so tough, yeah right...
Posted by: Jason | May 28, 2021 6:21:41 PM
I agree, you can't put a monetary value on Moms or our kids, but I don't think that is the ultimate point of the article anyway. The fact is that much too often, especially in the case of stay-at-home Moms, the JOB of being a Mom is extremely undervalued. We all know the cliches. I think the point of this article is to advocate that being a good Mom is extremely demanding, time-consuming, often thankless work because there are far too many people out in the world who don't get that. And even worse, there are many who don't respect it.
Posted by: keith | May 28, 2021 6:46:34 PM
I think that these women that think they are undervalued by society are to worried about others opinions. being a single mother I personaly know that there are stereotypes out there for all to listen to it is weather or not you choose to listen. sure my son may not have all the toys he would want or get to go to all the new movies but he is happy healthy and well adjusted.....if you stay at home this is a choice YOU have made, be proud of it and stop feeling the need to know "what it is worth" who cares....unless your listening to others opinions of what your worth.. ingnorance runs deep and those who make comments about a stay at home moms worth have nothing else to do with their day. Accept your choice and be proud....don't ever justify or add a price tag to it- all your doing then is justifying yourself to people who don't matter in your life. adding this price tag and feeling the need to announce it makes me feel like your auctioning off your soul to the person who says your worth the most....
Posted by: Barb | May 29, 2021 12:02:30 AM
I stayed at home for 10 years bringing up my children, When they both went to school there was no reason for me to stay home. But I must say at the time my husband did not complain about supporting our family. Years later always a sore point with us I did nothing while he was working
Posted by: Melanie | May 30, 2021 2:30:09 AM
I am not sure you can really put a value on the work of a mom. I have two young girls and I am leaving the workforce to stay home with them. It is a financial sacrifice for the family to loose an income, but not as big a sacrifice as leaving the kids in daycare to work. Everyone will be happier, maybe a few less material possessions, but every will have a roof over their head, clean clothes and enough food. As a working mom, I am not sure that it is better for kids and society for moms to feel like they have to work outside the house to have value in society...
Posted by: Natolie | May 30, 2021 1:18:48 PM
What an interesting conversation. What seems to be at issue here is the measurement of worth in financial terms of a mother's role. It is a reflection on how we think about what is worthy and what is not. Its like the old comparison of a garbage man to a doctor. Where would we be without either? It takes a community to raise a child and, thankfully, we are recognizing that this important job cannot be relagated to one gender in particular. From a woman's perspective what traditionally has been classed as "women's work" has been poorly recompensed financially, so motherhood and all that it entails has been conveniently relagated to a labour of love. Labour being the operative word. As the word in of itself is looked upon and as being worthy of financial reward for services rendered. With CPP it is purely for contributions paid. The government does recognize need by providing other subsidies. The questions of whether this is ever enough instructs us to look about what we value as a society.
Posted by: max | May 30, 2021 2:12:19 PM
I think the point of putting a dollar value on women's work in the home is important as it acknowledges the efforts that are made by women. It in no way puts a price on a child's head nor is it child abuse. Most women of my parents age were housewives whether they had children or not. They all worked hard at what they did. It is important when we read something that we try to take what is said "in a well meaning way" rather than react in a negative way and respond in a pejorative manner. In my opinion all comments are valid.
Posted by: salamander | May 30, 2021 3:09:48 PM
Gibbygal your funny, I believe Don put you in your place. Just reading all the comments it is very interesting getting an idea of each of your perspectives. Mothers are seldom appreciated fully for all their work but it comes down to family dynamics, who does this, how the responsabilities are divided, what the values are of each individual stakeholder. For those that feel they might not have received what is owed to them, you put yourself in that position. Whether you married the wrong person or chose one alternative over another ie: work vs family. No regrets, you did what you thought was best at the time.
Posted by: salamander | May 30, 2021 3:14:33 PM
Gibbygal your funny, I believe Don put you in your place. Just reading all the comments it is very interesting getting an idea of each of your perspectives. Mothers are seldom appreciated fully for all their work but it comes down to family dynamics, who does this, how the responsabilities are divided, what the values are of each individual stakeholder. For those that feel they might not have received what is owed to them, you put yourself in that position. Whether you married the wrong person or chose one alternative over another ie: work vs family. No regrets, you did what you thought was best at the time.
Posted by: leighah | May 30, 2021 3:14:35 PM
I agree that this is a ridiculous article. Stay at home moms choose to stay at home. Many women and men work ful time jobs and take care of families as well. In Canada, the stay at home moms benefit from healthcare and all kinds of services that are provided from other working people's tax dollars. They should be happy that they live somewhere where they can be taken care of without having to work out of the home. There are people who work 70 hours per week and still have to cook, drive around, shop for groceries etc. etc. that is part of life.
Posted by: Tony | May 30, 2021 3:29:29 PM
This is just some feminist rant to make men feel inferior to women, again, and that they should happily open their wallets to their wives and just dump out more and more money, and endless stream because, as we can all see, the stream of women's work is 'endless'. Look at this impressive list of titles: laundry machine operator, janitor, van driver, computer operator, housekeeper, day care center teacher, cook, chief executive officer, psychologist, and facilities manager.
Chief executive officer? Psychologist? let's water down the real meaning of these actual titles by handing them out without any real qualification...
Posted by: Shirley | May 30, 2021 3:32:46 PM
How can you put any kind of a price or "fair wage" on a 24/7 job. Yes 24/7, even when a Mom is trying to get sleep, they are "on call". No there is no fair wage. Mom's do it for love not money. This is only a "what if " we had to pay Mom. We can only pay Mom with kindness and helpfulness and lots of love and hugs and Christmas and Birthday and Mothers day presents that are not "household" gifts. The title is not "stay at home Mom". My Mother is a Domestic Engineer. As for Dad, that is a 24/7 job as well.
Posted by: TerryF | May 30, 2021 3:33:17 PM
Great topic as just last month four of my drinking buddies were hanging out on the deck smoking cigars and drinking beer while the ladies were inside cooking and tending the kids and the same topic came up. We all really appreciate our wives and know they have a difficult and often thankless role. We put out the question of how much $ would we need to be paid to switch places with our wives and consensus was that nobody would for less than $100,000 per year. The guys get the glory as they spend time with happy kids that are so excited to see dad when he gets home and the ladies had to change all the diapers, clean the house, make 3 meals plus snacks per day, and the list goes on. Her quantifiable pay.....food, nice house, 1 or 2 vacations per year, new car/van every 5 years, 2 shopping trips per year, and a couple $Million when I kick the bucket. But really all this is nothing compared to the pride and love she has for our children.
Anyways I am just defending my opinion against the first couple of posts that seem to suggest that if you are doing a job that is really challenging but equally rewarding that you should not accept a paycheque.
Posted by: juliq | May 30, 2021 3:46:33 PM
I am a stay at home mother of two, I know Iam worth alot to them, I don t need money for pay, they give me there love. I always get hugs and kisses. The best thing I get from my girls, when they go to bed is a good night and a smile. The only thing I need from them is to see them smile and then I know that I have done a great job. Money is not every thing
Posted by: Bill Williams | May 30, 2021 4:11:11 PM
Yes..I agree a mother's work is greatly appreciated. My wife does not get paid in cash for looking after our new born baby. Instead she make's me take it out in favor's. Long as I can keep my energy up, all will be well. Oh well, there is always viagra and jeritol.
Posted by: Ruby | May 30, 2021 4:14:06 PM
Having kids is VOLUNTARY. Having a real job is NECESSARY TO LIVE because we all
need money to buy goods and services. Choosing to have kids is not necessary for life.
People are not compensated financially for VOLUNTARY activities. PERIOD.
Employers do not post job ads for MOTHERS OR FATHERS because these are not
JOBS!
So trying to estimate what PARENTHOOD should be "paid" makes NO SENSE.