Motherhood: Benefit or Burden to Business

International Study Seminar on “Women and Work”, Pontifical Council for the Laity, Rome, Italy (2015)

U of St. Thomas (Minnesota) Legal Studies Research Paper No. 16-04

9 Pages Posted: 20 Jan 2016

See all articles by Elizabeth Rose Schiltz

Elizabeth Rose Schiltz

University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minnesota)

Date Written: 2016

Abstract

This essay is a contribution to an International Study Seminar on the topic of “Women and Work”, convened by the Pontifical Council for the Laity in Rome, Italy, on December 4-5, 2015, to be published with the complete proceedings of the conference.

In recent decades, the Catholic Church has come to share the widespread social consensus about the urgent need for the insights of the feminine genius in all sectors of society – in the home as well as the halls of government, schools and universities, and businesses. However, an argument for women in the workplace does not, in itself, furnish a compelling business case for mothers in the workplace. Is there something unique about the gifts, talents, and perspectives of women who are mothers, or something unique about what women who are mothers add to the dynamic of men and women working together?

This essay argues that persuasive arguments for accommodating mothers in workplace are crucial for two reasons: First, to ensure that employers who want to achieve gender balance do not follow the lead of companies such as Facebook and Apple, offering incentives for women to remain childless during their most productive years as ‘ideal workers’ rather than accommodating parenting. Second, to ensure the continued presence in workplaces and national and international governing bodies of people with personal stakes in advocating for policies to enable parents to balance their work and their caregiving responsibilities, and in reminding their nations and the world of the reality that the overwhelming proportion of the world’s poverty population is composed of women and children – across the globe, in countries of all stages of development.

The essay offers four arguments for the value of mother in the workplace: (1) businesses want women workers, and most women workers want to be mothers; (2) businesses benefit long term from the caregiving work of mothers, and should thus shoulder some of its cost; (3) accommodating motherhood is not, in fact, as much of a burden on businesses as is commonly thought; and (4) mothers offer some unique and valuable skills to the workplace.

Keywords: feminist theory, working mothers, maternity policies, work life balance, ideal male worker, restructuring workplace, Catholic intellectual tradition, Catholic social thought

Suggested Citation

Schiltz, Elizabeth Rose, Motherhood: Benefit or Burden to Business (2016). International Study Seminar on “Women and Work”, Pontifical Council for the Laity, Rome, Italy (2015), U of St. Thomas (Minnesota) Legal Studies Research Paper No. 16-04, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2717653

Elizabeth Rose Schiltz (Contact Author)

University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minnesota) ( email )

MSL 400, 1000 La Salle Avenue
Minneapolis, MN Minnesota 55403-2005
United States
651-962-4922 (Phone)
651-962-4971 (Fax)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
79
Abstract Views
695
Rank
555,601
PlumX Metrics