Cultural‐Policy Framework and Mothers' Earnings Penalty: A European Comparison

Eliane Badaoui and Eleonora Matteazzi

Kyklos, 2026, vol. 79, issue 1, 53-69

Abstract: This article explores the diversity of cultural and policy contexts in Western European countries and examines their role in explaining the persistent and heterogeneous motherhood penalty. Using harmonized European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU‐SILC) data from 13 countries, the analysis spans 2006 to 2022 and provides average and distributional results. The findings reveal a motherhood penalty in 10 countries, with the highest levels observed in Sweden, Norway, Germany, and Austria. For these countries, quantile regressions show a decreasing motherhood penalty along the earnings distribution. The empirical analysis further sheds light on how work–family policies, culture, minimum wages, and wage‐setting institutions mediate the role of motherhood on women's earnings. The results indicate that while work–family policies promote female employment, they do not significantly mitigate the motherhood penalty. In contrast, higher minimum wages and more coordinated and centralized wage bargaining are more effective in reducing the motherhood penalty, particularly in the lower segment of the earnings distribution. More traditional gender roles and cultural values emphasizing masculinity, individualism, and power distance are associated with a lower motherhood penalty.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/kykl.70013

Related works:
Working Paper: Cultural‐Policy Framework and Mothers' Earnings Penalty: A European Comparison (2025)
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:bla:kyklos:v:79:y:2026:i:1:p:53-69

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0023-5962

Access Statistics for this article

Kyklos is currently edited by Rene L. Frey

More articles in Kyklos from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().