Career progression of moms, dads during coronavirus ‘not in same boat,’ study finds

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Here’s yet another way the coronavirus pandemic is poised to damage women’s careers: A new survey says that dads are receiving more promotions and raises while working from home compared with women in similar situations.

The new survey, conducted by theBoardlist and Qualtrics, shows vastly different takes on how working from home has affected the careers of men and women.

More than one-third of dads with children at home said they received a promotion while working remotely, and 26% reported receiving a pay raise. Among moms, just 9% reported a promotion while working from home, and 13% said they landed a pay bump.

Dads were also far more likely than moms to have taken on additional leadership or responsibility for important projects, or to have received praise or recognition inside the company or received a positive formal review while working remotely.

The poll surveyed 1,051 U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 65, including 685 respondents with children.

Whether working moms and dads believed they might see a promotion or raise while working from home mirrored the actual results. Almost half of men believed that working from home for an extended period would have a positive effect on their career progression, but only 15% of women said the same. Nearly half of female respondents believed it wouldn’t have an impact either way, versus 20% for men.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, twice as many women as men believed working from home would have a somewhat or extremely negative impact on their careers (19% vs. 9%, respectively).

The study is one in a long line of research reaffirming how moms’ careers have taken a back seat throughout the pandemic.

Other recent studies confirm that moms have scaled back their working hours lately. A study published in the academic journal Gender, Work & Organization revealed that mothers have reduced their work hours four to five times more than fathers in heterosexual couples where both the mother and father were continuously employed and have children under 13, the New York Times reported.

Similarly, an English study found that dads get twice as much uninterrupted work time during the day (5.1 hours) compared with moms (at 2.6). Nearly half (47%) of moms’ paid work hours are split between work and other distractions.

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