Twenty Years Later, Mothers Are Still Pumping in Closets

Written by June Cook-Selman

My mom pumped in a storage closet with no outlet. Her story isn’t rare: one in four mothers considered leaving their jobs due to lack of accommodations (Gitis et al., 2022).  For those who stay, many report experiencing pregnancy-related disadvantages and what researchers call the “motherhood penalty”: the economic disadvantage mothers face at work (Pepping & Maniam, 2020). Working mothers are more likely to be passed up for jobs, promotions, and raises and have significantly fewer opportunities than working fathers. All of this accounts for a major portion (about 80%!) of the gender pay gap (Peterson, 2024).

One persistent stereotype driving this penalty: many workplaces still assume that the father is the primary breadwinner and the mother is the primary caregiver (American Association of University Women, n.d.). Many workplaces operate on an “ideal worker” model: someone always available, with zero or minimal external responsibilities. Under this model, caregiving is seen as fundamentally incompatible with workplace demands, making motherhood appear to be a liability rather than a normal part of life. Even when people reject these stereotypes explicitly, they still shape workplace design and expectations. Many workplace structures and policies were never designed with mothers in mind, but now organizations must commit to changing the outdated systems that penalize mothers.

As a child of two working mothers, I’ve grown up hearing real-life examples of the discrimination against mothers in the workplace. One story that particularly stood out was when my mom, Sharon, returned to work after having me in 2004. She worked in a healthcare marketing agency that did not have a dedicated lactation room, so they offered her a small storage closet – with no electrical outlet. For months, she dragged her breast pump down the hall to find an outlet, enduring daily comments from male colleagues about when she’d be “done with that.” HR never intervened. Had there been adequate facilities for lactating parents, clear policies against gender harassment, or even active HR intervention, she may not have had to endure this kind of treatment for as long as she did.

According to my mom, there was an implicit expectation that once women gave birth, they would either stop working and become stay-at-home moms or stop breastfeeding before returning to work. Because the office offered no private, functional space, breastfeeding became visible, and that visibility invited the commentary and possibly framed motherhood as a disruption rather than a normal workplace need. Even more so, the message to other women in the office was clear: if you get pregnant, expect no support. Changes to the structure of her work environment, like flexible scheduling, remote work, or an official lactation room, could have prevented the discrimination and discomfort she experienced, while creating a more supportive environment for all working mothers.

Though this anecdote was over 20 years ago, not enough has changed. In 2025, one in three breastfeeding workers still doesn’t have a place to pump at their workplace (Gordon, 2025). This is particularly outrageous given recent legal protections. In 2022, the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act solidified a working mother’s legal right to reasonable break time and a private place (other than the bathroom) to pump for one year postpartum (U.S. Department of Labor, 2025). Returning to work after delivering a baby is already a difficult transition. It is made even more difficult when the work environment is (unlawfully) unwelcoming to new mothers. With this law in place, workplaces must move beyond token compliance and actively ensure mothers can exercise their legal rights. It’s also important that working mothers know their legal rights to advocate for themselves and their coworkers. What’s even more necessary is leadership that treats caregiving as a normal part of working life, not a special request or a private inconvenience. A solution-oriented and diverse team of leaders can do that by challenging the outdated assumption that “ideal workers” don’t have bodies, babies, or responsibilities at home, and by building workplaces that actually reflect reality. That means moving beyond supportive slogans to structural change: dedicated lactation spaces that are functional and private, clear anti-harassment policies that are enforced, and work norms that protect parents’ time without penalty. Until leaders redesign the workplace with mothers in mind, the motherhood penalty won’t be an abstract statistic—it will keep showing up in hallways, closets, and the quiet decisions women make about whether it’s worth staying.

June Cook-Selman

June is a senior at Hamilton College studying Sociology.

References

American Association of University Women. (n.d.). The motherhood penalty. AAUW. https://www.aauw.org/issues/economic-security/motherhood/

Gitis, B., Sprick, E., & Schweer, A. (2022, February 11). BPC – Morning Consult: 1 in 5 moms experience pregnancy discrimination in the workplace. Bipartisan Policy Center. https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/bpc-morning-consult-pregnancy-discrimination/

Gordon, S. (2025, August 28). 1 in 3 breastfeeding parents still don’t have a place to pump at work. Parents. https://www.parents.com/breastfeeding-parents-no-place-to-pump-at-work-11798117

Pepping, A., & Maniam, B. (2020). The Motherhood Penalty. Journal of Business & Behavioral Sciences, 32(2).

Peterson, M. (2024, August 7). Motherhood is hard—Pay penalties make it harder. Institute for Women’s Policy Research. https://iwpr.org/motherhood-is-hard-pay-penalties-make-it-harder/

U.S. Department of Labor. (2026). FLSA protections to pump at work. U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pump-at-work