Who Stays Home With The Kids? Maryland Report Shows A Stark Difference

Married Maryland mothers with young children are far less likely than fathers to be working or looking for work, according to a new state report that identifies child care costs, unequal pay and inflexible schedules as barriers to women’s employment.

The Maryland comptroller’s October report, “Women & the Economy,” examines differences between women and men in workforce participation, wages, business ownership and leadership. It combines government and other economic data with insights from nine roundtable discussions involving 185 women across the state.

Among married Marylanders ages 25-44 with at least one child younger than 5, 75 percent of women participated in the labor force, compared with 97 percent of men, according to the report’s analysis of 2024 Census Bureau data.

Among single adults in the same age group without young children, there was no gap: Both women and men had workforce participation rates of 89 percent.

Labor force participation includes people who are employed or actively looking for work. People outside the labor force are neither working nor actively seeking a job.

The findings do not establish why each parent is outside the workforce or whether they want to return. But research and roundtable participants repeatedly pointed to caregiving responsibilities, lower wages and a lack of flexible jobs as factors shaping women’s choices.

Pay And Child Care Shape Family Decisions

When a family needs someone to stay home to care for a child or another relative, participants told researchers that the lower-paid parent often leaves work. Women earn less than men at every educational level examined in the report.

For workers ages 25-64 with at least a bachelor’s degree, women’s median annual wages were $85,000, compared with $106,000 for men. Those figures include both full-time and part-time workers and do not compare people doing identical jobs.

The report found about 56,000 college-educated mothers ages 25-64 outside the labor force, compared with 12,000 college-educated fathers.

Leaving paid work can have consequences beyond the immediate loss of a paycheck. Employment gaps can limit future earnings, retirement savings and opportunities for advancement, the report says.

Flexible Jobs Can Help Mothers Stay Employed

Mothers and other caregivers participating in the roundtables consistently described a need for remote work, part-time hours or schedules outside the traditional workday.

Some said difficulty finding those arrangements pushed women toward self-employment or out of the workforce entirely. Participants also described women leaving jobs after employers required them to return to the office.

Flexible work can carry trade-offs, however. The report cites research suggesting women who work remotely may face fewer opportunities for promotion, mentorship and informal feedback.

The report says expanding access to affordable child care, narrowing pay gaps, and providing greater workplace flexibility could help more mothers remain employed or return to work.

Other Key Findings

The report also examines women’s roles as business owners and government workers, along with barriers to employment and access to state contracts. Other key findings include:

• Women-owned businesses grew faster: Maryland added about 42,500 women-owned businesses between 2019 and 2023, a 17 percent increase, compared with 10 percent growth for men-owned firms. Black women accounted for more than half the increase in women-owned businesses.
• Federal cuts pose risks for Black women: Black women represented 21 percent of Maryland’s self-reported federal workforce in 2024. The report warns they likely faced disproportionate effects from subsequent cuts, but state-level data identifying laid-off workers by race and gender were unavailable.
• Maryland missed its contracting goal: Minority business enterprises received about 17 percent of state procurement dollars in fiscal 2025, below the state’s 29 percent goal. Women-owned firms participating in the program received approximately $688 million in awards.
• Language barriers coincide with a wider gap: Among adults ages 25-64 who spoke English poorly or not at all, workforce participation was 59 percent for women and 91 percent for men.

Most of the report’s detailed workforce findings use 2024 data, while its business ownership figures cover 2023.