EQUALITY WATCH : Penalty for Time Off?

Once upon a time, when office corridors were full of men in gray flannel suits, many predicted that the wholesale entry of women into the work world would expand opportunities for women and also would humanize the workplace. Women would push for changes, the argument went, allowing men and women to better balance their responsibilities as parents and wage earners.

Women now make up more than 45% of the labor force. More than half of all women with children under 6 work. And in large part due to those working mothers, the office has indeed become a more flexible place. Telecommuting, family leave, flextime and job-sharing are now options for many employees. But if employers are more flexible, they are not always forgiving.

A new study of 2,400 women found that those who took time off to raise children or to pursue other interests may have permanently lowered their incomes. Women surveyed less than one year after returning to work from a career break of six months or longer made a whopping 33% less than their counterparts who worked continuously. Although the pay gap between women who took breaks and those who didn’t narrowed over time, those who last took a break 20 years before still earned 5% to 7% less.

These results raise disturbing questions: Do some employers penalize women more than men who take time off? Are women penalized for taking family leave, which California and many other states now offer? Is this the message American society wants to send to parents trying to balance work and family?