--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There's a motherhood penalty because…" description: "\"There's a motherhood penalty because we've been long taught things that are stigmatized about motherhood. As workers, we don't want to talk about our k..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/60b/alissa-quart-6857_long_there-s-a-motherhood-penalty-because-we_953177.jpg" --- # There's a motherhood penalty because we've been long… ![“There's a motherhood penalty because we've been long taught things that are stigmatized about motherhood. As workers, we don't want to talk about our kids at work. We're afraid to, or that when we leave at 5:30 to relieve the sitter we're somehow going to be diminished.” quote by Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/60b/alissa-quart-6857_long_there-s-a-motherhood-penalty-because-we_953177.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/60b/alissa-quart-6857_long_there-s-a-motherhood-penalty-because-we_953177.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/60b/alissa-quart-6857_long_there-s-a-motherhood-penalty-because-we_953177.jpg) > “There's a motherhood penalty because we've been long taught things that are stigmatized about motherhood. As workers, we don't want to talk about our kids at work. We're afraid to, or that when we leave at 5:30 to relieve the sitter we're somehow going to be diminished.” [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Women face hidden career costs when motherhood is stigmatized, leading to silence and fear of judgment at work. **In simple terms:** Motherhood can hurt careers because it’s taboo to discuss kids at work. Key Takeaway Speak up and normalize parenting at work. Themes gender workplace parenting stigma Mood frustrated hopeful Type advice observational When to use this quote - team meetings - performance reviews - career planning - parenting support groups Key Concepts social expectations career penalties identity conflict Questions to Reflect On - How can organizations create safe spaces for parents? - What personal steps can you take to reduce stigma? A Different Perspective Not all workplaces have supportive policies; cultural change is slow. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Motherhood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/motherhood/) [Work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work/) [Workers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/workers/) ## Related quotes > [“While parenthood served as no disadvantage at all to men, there was evidence of a substantial "motherhood penalty". Mothers received only half as many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cordelia-fine/while-parenthood-served-as-no-disadvantage-at-all-to-men-there-was/) [Cordelia Fine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cordelia-fine/) > [Mothers suffer in the workplace. That fact is by now so painfully familiar it even has a name: the motherhood penalty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/mothers-suffer-in-the-workplace-that-fact-is-by-now-so-painfully/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [“We learn to work when we are tired, so we can learn to work when we are afraid.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/we-learn-to-work-when-we-are-tired-so-we-can-learn-to-work-when-we/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [The work I like to do is the work I'm most afraid of.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lancashire/the-work-i-like-to-do-is-the-work-i-m-most-afraid-of/) [Sarah Lancashire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lancashire/) > [There are very few people who work for me who are afraid to tell me what I don't want to hear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-baker/there-are-very-few-people-who-work-for-me-who-are-afraid-to-tell-me/) [Charlie Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-baker/) > [The work that I'm proudest of is the work that I'm most afraid of.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-spielberg/the-work-that-i-m-proudest-of-is-the-work-that-i-m-most-afraid-of/) [Steven Spielberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-spielberg/) > [“Well," he said, quite seriously, "it's this way: you work because you're afraid not to. You work becuase you have to drive yourself to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-wolfe/well-he-said-quite-seriously-it-s-this-way-you-work-because-you-re/) [Thomas Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-wolfe/) > [Why do I keep evading my work? Is it because I’m afraid of being confronted by my lack of abilities?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/candace-bushnell/why-do-i-keep-evading-my-work-is-it-because-i-m-afraid-of-being/) [Candace Bushnell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/candace-bushnell/) > [On the whole, I would bid you stand up to your work, whatever it may be, and not be afraid of it; not in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/on-the-whole-i-would-bid-you-stand-up-to-your-work-whatever-it-may-be/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [I can't abide to see men throw away their tools i' that way, the minute the clock begins to strike, as if they took…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/i-can-t-abide-to-see-men-throw-away-their-tools-i-that-way-the-minute/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [We have a lot of work to do and I‘m afraid that it‘s a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mccain/we-have-a-lot-of-work-to-do-and-i-m-afraid-that-it-s-a-very-hard/) [John McCain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mccain/) > [Families mean work,but they are our great work,and we are not afraid of work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-b-beck/families-mean-work-but-they-are-our-great-work-and-we-are-not-afraid/) [Julie B. Beck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-b-beck/) > [For horror to work, you have to be afraid. You have to keep the monster in a black and white light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guillermo-del-toro/for-horror-to-work-you-have-to-be-afraid-you-have-to-keep-the-monster/) [Guillermo del Toro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guillermo-del-toro/) > [Certain people have wanted to put me behind bars for a long time now. That's part of my work. If I were afraid, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexei-navalny/certain-people-have-wanted-to-put-me-behind-bars-for-a-long-time-now/) [Alexei Navalny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexei-navalny/) > [In many ways, being pregnant and working were more difficult than motherhood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bethenny-frankel/in-many-ways-being-pregnant-and-working-were-more-difficult-than/) [Bethenny Frankel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bethenny-frankel/) ## More by Alissa Quart > [In the local state school I attended in England, I saw and heard far more awareness of where a person stood in the social…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/in-the-local-state-school-i-attended-in-england-i-saw-and-heard-far/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [Low-cost gear can make restless people like myself feel marginally happier.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/low-cost-gear-can-make-restless-people-like-myself-feel-marginally/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > ['Middle class' used to mean having two children and sending them to high-quality public schools, or even occasionally to private schools. It meant new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/middle-class-used-to-mean-having-two-children-and-sending-them-to/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [I think our families or parents were trying to do best by us by telling us, 'Do what you love.' On an existential level,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/i-think-our-families-or-parents-were-trying-to-do-best-by-us-by/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [When I was doing my research for 'Branded,' I'd meet groups of teenagers and preteenagers or tweens, and they would laugh at a magazine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/when-i-was-doing-my-research-for-branded-i-d-meet-groups-of-teenagers/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [To be 'squeezed' is to be bound by a very American psychological and socio-economic predicament. Being squeezed involves one's finances, one's social status, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/to-be-squeezed-is-to-be-bound-by-a-very-american-psychological-and/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [Americans overall may live better than medieval aristocrats could dream of, but that means nothing when oligarchs live in the neighborhood next door, flaunting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/americans-overall-may-live-better-than-medieval-aristocrats-could/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [A lot of the things that bore adults don't bore children, and people forget that. In some ways, boredom is a projection of adults…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/a-lot-of-the-things-that-bore-adults-don-t-bore-children-and-people/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [Part of why daycare is so poorly paid is because the sense that they're prisoners of love, that daycare workers love their work so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/part-of-why-daycare-is-so-poorly-paid-is-because-the-sense-that-they/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [Sometimes I think that the public's lack of criticism of the rich - and how they seek their pleasure - might derive from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/sometimes-i-think-that-the-public-s-lack-of-criticism-of-the-rich-and/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [Piercing minds go mute around poetry. It is imagined to be overly technical, like advanced arithmetic; otherworldly, priestess-like; suffocatingly personal; excessively decorative; exhaustingly bourgeois…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/piercing-minds-go-mute-around-poetry-it-is-imagined-to-be-overly/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [Our social fabric is sundered. GoFundMe and the other crowdfunding sites that have proliferated since 2010 are an example of what has sprung up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/our-social-fabric-is-sundered-gofundme-and-the-other-crowdfunding/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [Parenting makes us better in so many regards.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/parenting-makes-us-better-in-so-many-regards/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [There are caste systems in American cities: Many are marginalized to the edges of urban centers due to real estate costs; price tags seem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/there-are-caste-systems-in-american-cities-many-are-marginalized-to/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [Uber is hardly the first company to exploit the financial vulnerability of teachers - and the desperation of public schools more broadly - to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/uber-is-hardly-the-first-company-to-exploit-the-financial/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) [Explore all 97 Alissa Quart quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) ## More Long quotes > [It appears to me that one great cause of our difference in opinion on subjects which we often discuss is that you have always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ricardo/it-appears-to-me-that-one-great-cause-of-our-difference-in-opinion-on/) [David Ricardo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ricardo/) > [Only within yourself exists the other reality for which you long. I can give you nothing that has not already its being within yourself.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/only-within-yourself-exists-the-other-reality-for-which-you-long-i/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [I would borrow money all day long, if the cost of borrowing is less than the expected return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brad-schneider/i-would-borrow-money-all-day-long-if-the-cost-of-borrowing-is-less/) [Brad Schneider](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brad-schneider/) > [Regardless of the criticisms I receive from the left, the right and the middle, I think it's important to maintain a prolific writing jab,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/regardless-of-the-criticisms-i-receive-from-the-left-the-right-and/) [Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/) > [Contradictory precepts that have guided me for as long as I can remember: 1: I will live forever. 2: I will die tomorrow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-gardner/contradictory-precepts-that-have-guided-me-for-as-long-as-i-can/) [Howard Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-gardner/) > [Public infrastructure around the world is facing unprecedented stress, with hurricanes, cyclones, floods and forest fires all increasing in frequency and intensity. It's easy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-klein/public-infrastructure-around-the-world-is-facing-unprecedented-stress/) [Naomi Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-klein/) > [The real world out there isn't nearly as nice as some people prefer it to be, so don't swallow everything your high-born teachers tell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-real-world-out-there-isn-t-nearly-as-nice-as-some-people-prefer/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [As a child, I had a lot of older gay men taking care of me. There's a trust there. I feel like little girls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-cho/as-a-child-i-had-a-lot-of-older-gay-men-taking-care-of-me-there-s-a/) [Margaret Cho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-cho/) > [ \[The Dalai Lama\] told me some years ago, "I've made every concession to China, and I've been as open and tolerant as I could,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pico-iyer/the-dalai-lama-told-me-some-years-ago-i-ve-made-every-concession-to/) [Pico Iyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pico-iyer/) > [I genuinely did not expect more than half our nation to choose to walk away from our long-term allies into the arms of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-reade/i-genuinely-did-not-expect-more-than-half-our-nation-to-choose-to/) Brian Reade > [Long before the 2016 presidential campaign, confidential sources had alerted me to longstanding misuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court system and the erosion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyl-attkisson/long-before-the-2016-presidential-campaign-confidential-sources-had/) [Sharyl Attkisson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyl-attkisson/) > [History has often showed us the strength of the forces that are unleashed by the yearning for freedom. It moved people to overcome their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-merkel/history-has-often-showed-us-the-strength-of-the-forces-that-are/) [Angela Merkel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-merkel/) > [From as long as I can remember, I was always fond of drawing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-lucia/from-as-long-as-i-can-remember-i-was-always-fond-of-drawing/) [St. Lucia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-lucia/) > [I was born and raised in Orlando, where the economy and culture has been powerfully shaped by tourism, and so I've long been interested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-van-den-berg/i-was-born-and-raised-in-orlando-where-the-economy-and-culture-has/) [Laura van den Berg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-van-den-berg/) > [Those whose life is long still strive for gain, and for all mortals all things take second place to money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophocles/those-whose-life-is-long-still-strive-for-gain-and-for-all-mortals/) [Sophocles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophocles/) Browse all 39,551 Long quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There's a motherhood penalty because we've been long taught things that are stigmatized about motherhood. 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