The Motherhood Penalties: Insights from Women in UK Academia

Vera E. Troeger, Riccardo Di Leo, Thomas J. Scotto and Mariaelisa Epifanio
Additional contact information
Vera E. Troeger: University of Warwick & University of Hamburg
Riccardo Di Leo: University of Warwick
Thomas J. Scotto: University of Glasgow
Mariaelisa Epifanio: University of Liverpool

The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) from University of Warwick, Department of Economics

Abstract: We use an original survey of academic women in the UK to investigate different dimensions of the motherhood penalty. Being a mother has no effect on salaries, but still slows down career progression even in such a high-skilled sector. Motherhood has an ambivalent impact on women’s perception of their working environment: improving satisfaction, but reducing perception of salary fairness relative to men. Our paper also explores how different policies can mitigate the motherhood penalties. We find that more generous maternity provisions are associated with higher salary, potentially because generosity reduces the crowding out of research activity. Better availability of childcare and an even distribution of responsibilities within the household correlate positively with earnings. Our findings also highlight the importance of a supportive work environment for mothers’ career and well-being at the workplace. Taken together, these findings suggest the necessity of a multi-faceted policy response to the motherhood penalties.

Keywords: satisfaction; salary; career; exclusion; gender pay gap; academia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-gen and nep-sog
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wrk:warwec:1313

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) from University of Warwick, Department of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Margaret Nash ().