Motherhood is widely recognized as an extremely important contribution to American society. Mothers are the center of the most informative years for a child. Their contribution is extremely valuable yet the benefits that they receive in return from society are intangible. It is often looked down upon to be a stay at home mom, and many people believe that these women “do nothing” with their days. Professionally, this job is invisible and one that is not as “sexy” on a resume when applying for a future job. Motherhood can hold back a woman from gaining ground professionally later on in life. Crittenden cites a woman from New York who was applying a job after raising a disabled child for 13 years. That experience was seen as irrelevant and not an asset to her resume. The employer told her that she had better add other experience she had to her resume. Economically, motherhood is not valued in concrete terms. By raising a child, women are creating human capital (future workers in the economy) however according to economic terms the caregiver has not gained any skills from working with their child. Women who raise their children (human capital) are therefore not valued in the American economy. The economic and professional implications of motherhood are filled with contradictions. Economically, the benefits are few and professionally women automatically are no longer able to be what society considers the ideal worker (that is “unencumbered” and free from distractions that may interfere with his or her job). This has a detrimental lifetime effect on personal income and professional status that continues long after the “child raising” years are over.
Today there is a constant struggle between the importance of childcare and the financial effects it has on mothers (due to the lack of governmental support for maternal benefits in the United States). Our government does not have public policies in place to support those stay at home moms who are raising our next...