Just in Time For Mother's Day

According to a story in Reuters, Salary.com released a study that shows that a stay-at-home mom should earn $138,095/year for what she does. Salary.com provides this online tool so that people can calculate how much a particular mom’s work is worth. I hope lots of moms forward this information...

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Comments

[Shefaly]

As prlinkbiz kindly reminds us, it is about the 'choice' people make. Others here had been making a similar point, and as a woman, I do not see why their wives and mothers have to be ashamed of them.

Many women do not have a choice but to go to work; likewise many have the choice but still go to work. Some others make a choice to stay at home to be full-time mothers (and wives).

Children are not an inevitability, they are a choice. Choices have costs and consequences. Not all costs are paid off in monetary terms. That is life and I do think chest-thumping to suggest some medals are deserved misses the point of that choice.

Everybody makes their choices. In case of children, where there is a dad still on the scene, that choice is also about trade-offs in the family unit and negotiation (between spouses, where applicable).

Some may argue that children are investments. In which case the value is only apparent at 'exit', or what they make of themselves after all the work parents (mother AND father) put in.

One could also argue that women who give up their lives to enable high-flying husbands (case in point: Jack Welch's wife who could have been a great lawyer). But then again that money is only realisable at 'exit'... While we are at it, why not also have a Wives' Day?

Such surveys are simplistic, stylised, reductionist and broadly useless. The best way to deal with them is to take them as such and not give them importance as any sort of pro- or anti- feminist or social commentary of any significance.

[Matt Jaynes]

One of the things I love about Guy Kawasaki is that he is a different kind of leader in the startup world. Most of the guys on the startup scene are anti-family, anti-religion, and anti-anything-that-isnt-too-cool-for-school. Those guys are often very smart in other arenas, but to be honest, pretty depressing to be around for too long. Guy adds a fresh and joyful perspective to the scene and it's quite refreshing!

[Aaron]

These kinds of surveys are insulting to fathers - and for that matter, patronizing to working mothers who don't have the luxury of staying at home.

Bleh. We hear about this every year, and it gets dumber and dumber. Stay at home Moms are great and beyond reproach.

You know what? Hogwash. Being a stay at home mom or dad is rarely anything but a high-and-mighty form of conspicuous display of wealth and status, mixed in with a little "it's for the children" kool-aid so that you can't be allowed to think about it's downsides in mixed company.

[prlinkbiz]

Wow- most of the commenters above should be ashamed of themselves, or at least your mothers and wives should be ashamed of you.

The point of the survey is to show that there is monetary value to what stay at home mothers do at no charge to you.

It is about respect for women who have chosen to stay home with their families. How about a little thankfulness? Obviously Guy has respect for mothers and the mother of his children.

Besides the survey doesn't factor in all it costs a woman to make the choice to be at home:
lost experience and time at a career, lost retirement and other benefits that often accompany a job, and her own money from a job or career and all the investments, etc she could have done with that money- that is a hell of a lot more than $138K a year.

I have chosen to be a work from home mother- I have friends who stay at home and I have friends who have careers- the bottom line is is costs to be a woman and have children.

Not looking for sympathy or special help, but at least take a good hard look and acknowledge the women who made and make sacrifices like this everyday.

[Kenny H.]

I agree that the results of this sort of survey are misleading, at best. My wife stays home and takes care of our daughter. I appreciate her very much and think it's great we can afford to do that. However, she is in no way a CEO. She makes decisions regarding one household and one child. I was once a Vice President and managed 100+ employees. I earned less that $160/hour for that work.

Of course, I do my share around the house also. So, although I earn a salary outside of the house, my true value should include "botanist" (I take care of the lawn), "chauffeur" (I drive often in the evenings and weekends), "CFO" (I pay the bills), "CIO" (I care for our network and computers), and on and on.

Finally, I have worked as a professional for 19 years. Until two years ago, I earned less than a stay-at-home mom's equivalent. So, a 22-year-old with no college degree who takes care of two kids is worth the same salary as I am today? Silly. If so, that 22-year-old should see if she can find a job paying $138,000 and consider hiring a nanny, or maybe her husband should stay home instead.

[Shefaly]

You see no mother has commented here yet, only men of whom I presume some are dads. Shows who is working on ferrying kids to and fro schools and doing other stuff, while some sit here and type (I am not a mother so I can comment; you see that is all women with no children do is sit around reading blogs and clearly we do not need to get paid for it, do we?)

However if people want to get paid for this work, then how about a carers' day (for those who look after elderly or incapable relatives)? A siblings' day (to celebrate those who help their siblings)? And so on..

If people have children, some one has to look after them. Why the fuss?

[Chris]

I agree that this is more than a bit absurd. Entertaining? Maybe.

To assign all those occupations to mothers based on an "average" stay-at-home mothers grind is fine by me. SAH Moms do a lot of work and should be highly valued.

The problem I have is assigning them (I assume) average hourly rates for each of those occupations. Example: Computer operator I. Is the average SAH mom capable of operating a computer with the same level of competence as the average Computer Operator I. If so, great, then that rate fits, but I've found the vast majority of SAH moms don't have a lot of sophisticated computer use knowledge.

The other one that jumps right out at me is CEO. That's the one that tells you this is clearly a joke. Given an hourly rate of nearly $160/hr, this was thrown in to give the ole salary a boost, from around $85k to $135k. About $15k of that is due to additional OT, but $160/hr at 4.2hrs/wk for 52 weeks is around $35k alone.

If they showed a way to determine the average SAH mom's level of competency in each of this areas (how many SAH moms have vans for their shift as van driver?), and then could apply rates based on THAT, then this would be meaningful. AND that would be a killer tool for others to use.

Right now, this is a PR move (although one that I think has a good chance at being successful), but I can't believe it will have much lasting value.

[Harry]

That's a lot of money.

[Scott]

Let's start by saying that both mom's and dad's efforts are priceless. After all, they would give their life for their children.

This "survey" and the associated calculator are absurd in so many ways and the numbers they report only do a disservice to all.

The only usefulness of this survey is to market Salary.com's services, and all of the folks that quote the info are nothing more than mindless PR firms for them.

[Don]

What's the purpose of pulling a number like this out of someone's ass? OK, we get it... moms do a lot of valuable work at home. Only an arsehole wouldn't see that.

But, since people insist on calculating what Mom's salary should be, why not estimating the value of Dad's work at home? I do all of the cooking for dinner plus all cooking on the weekend. I do all of the yard work and all home maintenance and repairs that don't require a tradesman. I maintain the cars. I take the dogs for their twice-daily walks. All of this on top of working my full-time job. I want MY paycheck!

[Brett Evans]

I wonder if they will start teaching stay at home mom degrees in college or some sort of extended school.

That would be interesting.

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MBA = Mothers of Business Administration