Amy Cuddy, HBS: Punishment and Prescribed Overcompensation for "Deviant Moms": How Race and Work Status Affect Judgments of Moms

The following are my notes from Amy Cuddy's presentation at the HBS Gender & Work Conference, February 28, 2013.
How experiences of discrimination are different for Black and White women, specifically how they’re seen as mothers.

When Amy first moved to Chicago to work at Kellogg with her four-year-old kid, she moved into a nice neighborhood and a mother in the neighborhood excluded Amy’s son from playdates and put Amy down for working, being blond, being skinny, and took this resentment out on Amy's son. Amy attributed the treatment to the fact that Amy was the only working mom on the block. Another example of the mistreatment was when a girl fell and hurt herself in the park; a mother accused Amy’s son of having an “aggression problem” even though he hadn't touched the girl. Amy talked to her colleague Kathy Phillips about her experience -- about all the pressure she felt to stay home and take care of her child and be a "good" mom -- but Kathy said that wasn’t her experience as a mom at all; she didn't think that was the experience for Black mothers. In fact, Black moms would think Kathy was “crazy” for quitting a good job. Black stay-at-home mothers had the opposite problem: they couldn't find other mothers to hang with.

Working mothers: two central roles -- worker and mother -- balancing these roles both personal and political (e.g., “Mommy Wars”) – lots of media examples; Lisa Belkin’s “The Opt Out Revolution” NYT 2003; Joan Williams’ "Opt Out or Pushed Out?" Etc.

Employed mothers account for most of the gender wage gap (Glass, 2004). 80% of mothers in professional sector cite workplace conditions as a key reason for leaving (Joan Williams) etc.

How are working mothers perceived?

Cuddy, Fiske & Glick (2004): career women are stereotyped as competent & cold (hostile sexist); housewives are stereotyped as warm & incompetent (benevolent sexist). Study: woman v man, with child v. no child, otherwise held qualifications constant; woman with a child was the only employee seen as more warm than competent; the only employee seen as equally warm and competent was a man with a child; less likely to hire, promote, or train woman with a child (one sentence changed all those things) – perceived incompetence is what did it; warmth didn’t help her at all – warmth did not cut the ice.

Correll,Benard & Paik (2007): Mothers were rated as less competent and less committed, deserving of lower salaries, held to higher performance & punctuality standards, than other applicants in an audit study. Mothers were called back half as often as non-mothers.

Mothers working at home: “sacrificial motherhood” idea in US culture (Joan Peters “WhenMothers Work…”); Brescoll & Uhlmann (2005): working mothers stereotyped as selfish and cold outside of work; google image search on stay-at-home mom – happy White mothers with kids.

But what about race?

Robinson (2001): race & parental status bias in loans.

Black stay-at-home moms are stereotyped as lazy, welfare moms, not contributing to society, not doing what Black women are supposed to be doing, which is working.

[I wonder if this applies to professional expectations as well? E.g., Black working lawyer mom still judged by White standards? “White” professions = White gender standards? A class effect going on here? Race & class so confounded]

Internet survey N=100 White women, ave age 46; varied race of target and work status of parent; how much to spend on a Mothers Day gift for a stay-at-home mom? White stay-at-home mom judged as deserving the most expensive gift; Black stay-at-home mom judged as deserving the least expensive gift

Experiment (N=68 non-students); Black v. White, works full-time v. stays home; how hard working or lazy is the mom? Perceived household income controlled for; White stay-at-home mom was seen as most hard working, Black stay-at-home mom was seen as least hard working.

Study on parenting advice: N=86 (69% female, 100% White, mean age = 21); varied race of target, work status of mother; participants judged whether mother should encourage sharing or holler at her child; Black working mom allowed to holler, White stay-at-home mom allowed to holler, working Black mom and White stay-at-home mom do not have to encourage sharing as much as the other moms.

Definition of being a "nurturing" or good mom appears to differ by race -- Black moms supposed to be providing for their families, that is seen as nurturing for Black moms? White moms supposed to be staying at home, supporting husband's career and caring for children?

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