Good morning. Motherhood changes many things in a woman’s life – that includes a fundamental shift in how they make financial decisions. More on that below, along with more news from protests in Iran and strife in Uganda. But first:
Today’s headlines
- Quebec Premier François Legault will resign ahead of the fall election, shaking up the province’s political and business landscape
- British Columbia is ending its contentious drug decriminalization pilot
- Donald Trump’s annexation threats raise thorny questions for Greenland and Denmark
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Carleton University accounting professor Oriane Couchoux says motherhood changes how women think about money. Her children can be seen behind her playing in her home in Blainville, Que., on Jan. 10.ROGER LEMOYNE/The Globe and Mail
Life
Researching the ‘motherhood penalty’
We’ve all heard about girl math. But what about mom math?
I’m Ann Hui, The Globe and Mail’s generations reporter. This week, I wrote about how, for many women, the costs of becoming a mom go far beyond the income gap, or the so-called “motherhood penalty.”
Most women already understand that motherhood comes with its costs. We already know, for instance, that mothers face slower career progression and fewer advancement opportunities. This is on top of the well-established gender income gap: the 89 cents that a woman earns for every dollar a man makes while working, and 83 cents for every dollar when retired.
But in her research, Oriane Couchoux, an accounting professor at Carleton University, details how motherhood fundamentally changes women’s relationship with money. That women think differently, spend differently and act differently around money because they are mothers.
She’s found, for instance, that moms’ decisions around how to spend their money are often deeply rooted in society’s ideas of what makes a “good mother.” These are perceptions based on values of selflessness and sacrifice. “Women believe,” she said, “that being a good mother requires financial sacrifice.”
It’s all part of what researchers describe as “intensive mothering” – the expectation that it’s the mother’s responsibility (rather than just a parent’s responsibility) to do everything possible to ensure their child achieves their full potential.
What this means is that mothers often make financial decisions that benefit their children, but not necessarily themselves. This might look like quietly absorbing household costs – paying for costs such as school supplies, kids’ clothes, extracurricular activities – out of their own pockets. Or justifying “treats” or little luxuries for their kids by spending out of their own accounts.
The result? When it comes to daily life, many women stopped spending money on themselves. Even more concerning, when it comes to planning their future, women are spending money on their kids that they might otherwise be putting toward their own retirement.
“They know that saving is important,” Prof. Couchoux said. “They know that they need to plan for the future, but they prioritize planning for their children’s future over their own.”
These are practices that most moms will likely relate to. I know I can. And even as a professor of accounting, as a trained accountant who thinks deeply about money, Prof. Couchoux said she finds herself guilty too.
Luckily, she has suggestions for how to move forward.
Here’s her advice:
- Track that spending. A big part of the problem, she said, is that in many households, smaller spending – expenses outside of the major ones such as housing or groceries – often go untracked and unmeasured. And because moms are so often the ones managing the household, it becomes even more work for them (and even more mental labour) to have to track these expenses.
- Measure twice. Don’t fall into the trap around the Canada Child Benefit. In her interviews with mothers, Prof. Couchoux said that many families automatically allot the tax benefit to mothers with the assumption that it will be enough to cover their children’s expenses. “We know that that benefit rarely, if ever, actually covers the cost for the children,” she said.
- Communicate. Have explicit conversations with your spouse or partner around household expenses – all of the expenses – and how child care affects income and savings.
The Shot
‘Hunger is everywhere.’
Nuralhuda Abdalaziz and her children live in Uganda’s Kiryandongo settlement, where refugees of many nationalities – Sudanese, in their case – live together, not always harmoniously. Nov. 15, 2025.Janice Dickson/The Globe and Mail
The struggle in Ugandan refugee camps, amplified by aid cuts, is putting the African nation’s open-door ethos to the test. In the meantime, the country prepares for today’s presidential election, where voters face internet shutdowns and soldiers in streets for what the current president called “the criminal opposition.”
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: Newly unsealed court documents show that the mother of Jack and Lilly Sullivan, two missing Nova Scotia children, complained of intimate partner violence to police.
Abroad: Trump claims that Iran has stopped killing protesters even as Tehran signals executions ahead. Ottawa is advising Canadians to leave the country immediately.
At home and abroad: On the first day of PM Mark Carney’s Beijing visit, talks about reducing Chinese tariffs on Canadian canola are “productive” and “continuing.”
In court: A class action against Air Canada claims that cancellations it attributed to safety were actually caused by staffing shortages.
Next phase: The United States says that it is moving into the second phase of a Gaza ceasefire plan that involves disarming Hamas.
More resignations: Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie has resigned, just months after she said she intended to stay on until a new leader of the provincial party was chosen.