‘Working Mother Affect’ Helps Daughters Earn More—But What About Sons?

Having a working mother is not detrimental, as had been thought, but it actually gives daughters the potential for increased income and managerial jobs, says a new study by Harvard. But what about the sons?

The results came from a comprehensive survey on “the working mother affect” of 50,000 adults aged 18 to 60 in 25 nations worldwide in 2002 and 2012 by the Harvard Business School Gender Initiative, according to a press release.

In the United States, says the study, adult daughters of working mothers earned 23 percent more than those whose mothers had not worked during their daughters’ childhoods, earning an annual average income of $35,474 compared to $28,894. And over 33 percent held supervisory positions, compared to roughly 25 percent of their counterparts from more traditional households.

Across all 25 developed countries in the survey, women whose mothers had worked earned 6 percent more than daughters from more traditional households. Twenty-one percent worked as supervisors, compared to 18 percent of women with stay-at-home mothers.

“There is no single policy or practice that can eliminate gender gaps at work and at home. But being raised by a working mother appears to come very close to that. Women raised by a working mother do better in the workplace, and men raised by a working mother contribute more at home,” said Harvard Business School Professor Kathleen McGinn, a coauthor of the study.

What about sons of working mothers? Researchers found that the working mother effect does not extend to sons in the workplace, where they are as likely as sons with stay-at-home mothers to hold supervisory positions and earn comparable salaries.

But they found one attribute that puts sons of working mothers ahead—they are way ahead in performance of domestic duties! The survey showed those men who had working mothers spent nearly twice as many hours on family and child care as those hailing from more traditional households—a weekly average of 16 hours compared to 8¹/₂ hours.