Mothers bear brunt of rising US costs: ‘It's always a fight'
When it comes to managing the household grocery list, remembering all the various teachers at school, and juggling the family doctors' appointments, Katherine de la Cruz has it all on her plate while working full-time as a paralegal.
'My brain is on, on, on 24/7. I think even while I sleep, I'm dreaming about what's going to happen,' said de la Cruz, who lives in Arizona with her husband, toddler, two foster kids and another baby expected soon. 'Then my husband tries to calm me down, but bless his heart, like, I mean, moms take out most of the family stuff anyways.'
She's concerned about the cost of food and childcare as Donald Trump's on-again and off-again tariffs continue to threaten higher prices nationwide. In the last year alone, de la Cruz said her family's monthly grocery bill has already doubled, going from roughly $400 a month to more than $800 for her household.
'Now, not only are the kids growing up, not only is the food going up, but I feel like there's much less food coming into like these packages,' said de la Cruz. 'And this is aside from, sometimes you want to eat out, sometimes you just want pizza, like, you know, and so now, on top of the groceries that we just paid, we gotta pay delivery fees.'
In Maryland, Chauntay Lawson said she's juggling similar concerns. Lawson and her husband have a two-year-old daughter, and even with two incomes, she said the cost of gas, utilities and food is putting immense pressure on their budget.
'We can't be in a position where we lose our home, or we lose just our basic necessities, because of the price of things or just overspending,' said Lawson.
As of 1 June, tariffs are estimated to cost the average American household roughly $2,500 this year, according to the Budget Lab at Yale, a non-partisan policy research center. The analysis also projects that tariffs would disproportionately affect clothing and textiles, leading to higher prices for shoes and apparel.
Currently, there is a universal US tariff of 10% in effect, but this may change for many countries once the 90-day pause on higher reciprocal tariffs ends in early July.
While trade talks between the US and China continue, de la Cruz is already bracing for higher costs. She's cutting back by trying to lower bills for car insurance, cell service and internet. However, she and her husband, Francisco, a woodworker, are also considering more significant changes, such as selling one of their cars or downsizing to a smaller home.
'Although we are coming up with ideas, there's always a lot of cons coming with it, because if we do leave our nice neighborhood and end up going somewhere else, education is going to be lower or it's not going to be as safe,' said de la Cruz.
Like many women in the workplace, both de la Cruz and Lawson are also facing another financial challenge – the persistent gender pay gap between the earnings of fathers and mothers in the US.
'I don't even need to see the numbers to know that that's true,' said Lawson, a technical program manager. 'I feel that every day at work.'
In its latest analysis, the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) reports that mothers who worked full-time jobs earned roughly 74 cents for every dollar paid to working fathers in 2023, the most recent year for this data. That means mothers are earning about $19,000 less a year for full-time work.
'We're talking about people who are fully engaged in the labor market, and even when they're fully engaged in the labor market, they're earning less,' said Dr Kate Bahn, chief economist at IWPR.
The disparity is worse for mothers of color. According to IWPR's data, Latina mothers earned approximately 43 cents, Native American mothers earned 48 cents, and Black mothers earned 49 cents for every dollar earned by white fathers in 2023. IWPR's report shows that white mothers earned about 62 cents, and Asian American/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) mothers earned about 73 cents for every dollar earned by white fathers across all earnings.
Bahn said that several policies would help mothers and caregivers achieve a more equitable work-life-family balance, including paid family and medical leave, paid sick leave, flexible work schedules, and access to affordable childcare.
However, she stressed this long-term trend of the parenthood pay divide underscores a deeper issue. While women have increased their participation in the labor force in various jobs over the last 50 to 60 years, Bahn said another form of discrimination has persisted in the workplace as well.
She calls it the 'motherhood penalty', a form of unfair bias and discrimination against working mothers that negatively affects their wages.
'Some of this is a belief that mothers might be less productive, but then, even when mothers are productive, they're also viewed as less likable,' said Bahn. 'Then the other side of it is that fathers are paid more, all else equal, because there's like a fatherhood bonus … so they're more likely to pay them more.'
According to the IWPR report, the 'motherhood penalty' begins after the birth of a first child and persists throughout a mother's career in the workplace.
'It's always a fight to prove that I can still do my job and be a mom,' said Lawson. 'I almost feel like I under-share my motherhood journey with colleagues and supervisors, because I don't want them to ever think that I'm not giving 100% to work because I'm picking up my child from her classes, or I'm distracted or anything.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
32 minutes ago
- USA Today
Huckabee: State Department is evacuating Americans from Israel amid Iran conflict
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also posted actions people can take to remain safe including learning the location of the nearest bomb shelters. The State Department has begun evacuating American citizens and permanent residents from Israel and the West Bank, U.S Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced on social media as the Israel-Iran war enters a second week. 'The Department of State has begun assisted departure flights from Israel,' Huckabee wrote in a post on X on June 21 asking people seeking government assistance to fill out a form. Huckabee also posted actions people can take to remain safe including learning the location of the nearest bomb shelters, avoiding large gatherings and monitoring local media. The State Department did not immediately respond to questions asking about the number of Americans it expects to retrieve from Israel. The conflict started a week ago when Israel began conducting airstrikes against Iranian nuclear and military sites, primarily targeting uranium enrichment facilities to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The two countries have been engaged in aerial strikes while President Donald Trump is mulling over the possibility of U.S. involvement to help Israel destroy Iranian nuclear facilities. Hundreds of Americans have left Iran in the last week, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters. Trump is expected meet his national security team on the evening of June 21 to discuss possible U.S. involvement in the conflict .
Chicago Tribune
2 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Mahmoud Khalil vows to continue protesting Israel's war in Gaza after coming back home
CONCORD, N.H. — A Palestinian activist who was detained for more than three months pushed his infant son's stroller with one hand and pumped his fist in the air with the other as supporters welcomed him home Saturday. Mahmoud Khalil greeted friends and spoke briefly to reporters Saturday at New Jersey's Newark International Airport a day after leaving a federal immigration facility in Louisiana. A former Columbia University graduate student and symbol of President Donald Trump 's clampdown on campus protests, he vowed to continue protesting Israel's war in Gaza. 'The U.S. government is funding this genocide, and Columbia University is investing in this genocide,' he said. 'This is why I will continue to protest with everyone of you. Not only if they threaten me with detention. Even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine.' Khalil, a legal U.S. resident whose wife gave birth during his 104 days of detention, said he also will speak up for the immigrants he left behind in the detention center. 'Whether you are a citizen, an immigrant, anyone in this land, you're not illegal. That doesn't make you less of a human,' he said. The 30-year-old international affairs student wasn't accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. However, the government has said noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the U.S. for expressing views the administration considers to be antisemitic and 'pro-Hamas,' referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Khalil was released after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said it would be 'highly, highly unusual' for the government to continue detaining a legal U.S. resident who was unlikely to flee and hadn't been accused of any violence. The government filed notice Friday evening that it is appealing Khalil's release. Joining Khalil at the airport, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said his detention violated the First Amendment and was 'an affront to every American.' 'He has been accused, baselessly, of horrific allegations simply because the Trump administration and our overall establishment disagrees with his political speech,' she said. 'The Trump administration knows that they are waging a losing legal battle,' Ocasio-Cortez added. 'They are violating the law, and they know that they are violating the law.'
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
US, POW/MIA flags turned upside down at three Brooklyn parks
United States and POW/MIA flags were hoisted and hung upside down at three separate sites in southern Brooklyn Friday, infuriating locals who blamed the disrespect on anti-American, far-left policies being pushed by New York pols. The city Parks Department confirmed it sent crews Friday to fix the improperly-flying flags at John J. Carty Park and the Fort Hamilton Triangle in Bay Ridge, and Bath Beach Park in Bensonhurst. Carty Park is – next door to the Fort Hamilton Army base. Hanging the American flag upside down is considered a distress signal under the U.S. flag code, but it's also widely used as a stunt to show disrespect for the U.S. and its government. 'I'm honestly shocked this happened in Bay Ridge,'' said Michael Ragusa, a southern Brooklyn GOP operative and city correction officer. 'Just a few years ago, it was one of the last solid Republican neighborhoods left in Brooklyn. Now, it's clear that the same un-American behavior spreading across the country is taking root right here — and New York City politicians are helping fuel it.' 5 United States and POW/MIA flags were spotted hung upside down at three separate sites in southern Brooklyn Friday – including this one at John J. Carty Park in Bay Ridge near the Fort Hamilton Army Base. Obtained by the New York Post Ragusa ripped Democratic Councilman Justin Brannan, who represents Bay Ridge, for joking on X that state Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar was behind the flag fiasco. 'It shows he's not serious — about his job, his constituents, or this country,' Ragusa said. 5 The flags at John J. Carty Park in Bay Ridge were fixed and flown correctly later Friday. New York Post The Parks Department said it alerted regional parks managers in Brooklyn to be on the lookout for similar incidents, but declined to say whether it had leads on who disrespected Old Glory. 5 Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn) joked that state Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar was behind the flag fiasco. Stephen Yang However, two patrons at Carty Park said they saw teenage boys Thursday pulling the flags down by a rope attached to the flag pole – and then moving them around – but they said they didn't stay around long enough to watch them turned upside down. 'It's disrespectful because a lot of vets gave their lives for this nation,' said John Meister, 29, who was at the park Friday with his two young children. 5 Republican Michael Ragusa said Brannan's comment 'shows he's not serious—about his job, his constituents, or this country.' Both Brannan, who is term-limited and running for NYC comptroller, and Brooklyn Republican Party Chairman Richie Barsamian took credit for calling the Parks Department and demanding the flags be properly displayed after fielding complaints from residents. 5 Brooklyn Republican Party Chairman Richie Barsamian said he called the Parks Department to demand action after fielding calls for constituents upset that the flags were being flown upside down at Carty Park. Brannan said he made a similar demand. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post Barsamian, who is running for Brannan's council seat, called the pol's joke about Kassar 'terribly inappropriate' — and likely a reference to a flag-raising event Kassar is part of each Memorial Day in Bay Ridge. Brannan through a spokesperson insisted he respects the American flag, adding it 'belongs to all of us – not any one political party.' 'Nobody should be messing with a flag like that,' he said. 'It's disrespectful to all who fought and died upholding our values.'
