There's More to the 'Motherhood Penalty'

IS MOTHERHOOD BAD for women's careers? Conventional wisdom says "yes," but a new study suggests "maybe not."

- Elizabeth Nolan Brown

The research comes from the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, a German think tank seeking "to bridge the divide between science and society through science communication and evidence-based policy advice." In an April paper titled "Is There Really a Child Penalty in the Long Run? New Evidence from IVF Treatments," economists Petter Lundborg, Erik Plug, and Astrid Würtz Rasmussen complicate the picture of what happens to women's earnings after having kids.

On average, women in the study did experience a short-term "motherhood penalty" after giving birth. But within a decade, their earnings rebounded. Researchers even found evidence of a small motherhood premium in the long run. Among other limitations, most research on motherhood penalties focuses on the short term, note Lundborg and colleagues.

The researchers analyzed data on more than 18,500 Danish women who had undergone in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments. Specifically, they compared economic outcomes for women whose initial treatment was successful (meaning they conceived) and those whose initial treatment was not. The data covered women who underwent IVF for the first time between 1994 and 2005 and followed these women—and their partners—for up to 25 years.