Why MBA Moms Earn Less

Two Harvard University Economists, Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz, recently released the study "The Career Cost of Family" that found among highly educated women, MBAs took the largest percentage "mommy penalty" while those with medical degrees receive the lowest loss. PhDs and attorneys are somewhere in the middle.

Back in 2008 I blogged about my own family vs. MBA career path dilemma. That led to a series of compensation-killing decisions: leave corporate finance, select Federal sector management consulting (less travel) than commercial sector, then off-ramping to entrepreneurship. None of these were bad decisions- for either my career or my family- but they explain why my salary history looks like EKG monitor on a heart disease patient.

From both my personal experience and from negotiating both "balance" trade-offs and compensation on behalf of my candidates, I've come to realize that MBA moms take the greatest hit because:

• There is no straight-forward "business" career path. Industries with large numbers of women- medicine, law, accounting- all have defined career paths for success and most have accommodations for women (or men, to be fair) that are on that non-traditional path. Law firms have part-time partner tracks where working parents can work less and achieve partner status, just on a longer timeline. In business, you can be working in management consulting, investment banking, brand management- you name it- and with those diversified offerings comes a web of career opportunities that all too often result in women "off ramping" when they have children.
• Who are the mentors? Ask anyone to name the top women in the C-suite and you'll hear the names "Meg Whitman" or "Carly Fiorina." They're not even IN business anymore. With no one to lead the way to show a path to the top while having children, women off-ramp rather than stay in the game, leaving these 18+ month employment gaps that severely impact lifetime earning.
• MBAs are for over-achievers. I went to a Top 25 business school, I know the type-- over achievers, hard chargers, the men and women who want to lead the business community. It's hard to be a corporate leader when you have to break every 2-3 hours to breastpump. It just is. Women are on a longer career arc. When their male counterparts are having stress-induced workaholic heart attacks at 50, my hope is that the women MBAs fill in the gap.
• Kids are not convenient. I recently visited my closest b-school friend overseas and while he's spent the last decade climbing the ranks of international management for a Fortune 100 global brand, I've put down roots in the best public school district I could find. At graduation (he, single, me- married with two babies) we took very different paths. Not better or worse, not right or wrong, just very different routes that have resulted in vastly different compensation levels.

I recently watched a TED talk with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg where she explains why we have so few women leaders. I'm not sure I agree with everything she says, but I love her advice: keep a seat at the table. You don't have to be at "the table" when your children are young, you don't have to be at the head of said table, but keep your head in the game and your seat, well, at the table.

Logistical Kryptonite Part 1: Pumping

In this crazy holiday season, working mothers face a logistical crunch: how do you finish year-end financials when your daughter wants you at her holiday classroom party? How do you sneak Santa gifts, shipped to your office for signature delivery, into your home if you're on daycare pick up? One of the super powers of Super Working Moms everywhere is superior logistics management skills. But, surveying my working mama peers and mentors, two logistical challenges come up over and over: pumping and conference calls. Call it Logistical Kryptonite.

I consider my greatest accomplishment in life breastfeeding preemie twin boys. Without a doubt, that was the hardest thing I've ever done and I came up with a well of determination and persistence that I didn't know I had in me. But when I returned to work when the boys were 6 months old, I had no pumping facilities, which quickly spelled the end of that accomplishment.

I was new to the firm and was working on a client site, sharing an 5x6 office with a Navy Commander. I wasn't exactly in the position to say, "Excuse me, sir, would you mind stepping out of your office every 3 hours for approximately 20 minutes? Just ignore that whoooshing sound."

Long after I was past the pumping stage, I moved to my company's corporate office where there was a dedicated pumping room, replete with sink, mini-fridge, recliner and most importantly, a lock on the door. Routinely I'd see men in their 50s carrying stinky sandwiches in there, women looking for privacy on a call, you name it, all manner of folks not toting a Medela Pump-in-Style. Naturally, I took it upon myself to politely educate these colleagues on the intent and purpose of such a room and suggest an alternate location for said sandwiches and calls.

Turns out, I wasn't alone. Practically every nursing mom I surveyed has a pumping horror story. A former colleague at a major financial services firm pumped in a shared, 3-stall ladies room and once had a male office cleaner walk in.

Another friend shared many relatable pumping stores. Pumping in a partner's office when no other locked door existed. Walking to metro, realize you left all of your pumped milk in the office fridge, trudging back to retrieve it. Pumping in an conference room, someone knocks on the door, you fix your shirt, answer the question then can't let down again. And by far the worst, traveling for work during the TSA ban on flying with breastmilk without a liquid: dumping 3 days worth of liquid gold pumped on the road.

But the tide might be changing. As reported in Strollerderby, Congress has expanded its pump facilities to now include more than a half dozen lactation suites on the Hill, including the "Boob Cube," an 8 x 10 state-of-the-art lactation facility with frosted glass, 2 hospital grade pumps, sanitizer, mini-fridge and most importantly, a lock on the door.

As a mother of 3 and small business entrepreneur, the thing that stands out as completely obvious is that a small investment (and we're talking small people, couple hundred dollars max) in a dedicated lactation room will help you attract the best and the brightest who increasingly make career decisions on the family-friendliness of a firm and keep your current employees happy and most important to your bottom line, productive. Set aside $250 for a lock and mini fridge in an empty supply room and don't be surprised to find a working mom spending her twice daily 20 minute pump session with a laptop burning up the year-end financials so that everyone can go home early to their families.