Becoming a mother could have a devastating impact on your earnings, according to a report released today by the Fawcett Society.

The report, entitled ‘Not having it all: How motherhood reduces women’s pay and employment prospects’ draws together the most recent academic research from several sources to highlight the discrimination faced by mothers.

The pay gap between men and women is well known, but the report shows that it is becoming a mother that fuels this divide. According to the report, partnered women without dependent children earn 9% less on average than men but for full time working mothers with two children the pay gap is 21.6%.