Child penalties

Child penalties (also known as motherhood penalty) refer to the negative impact of parenthood on women’s labor market outcomes relative to men’s. After childbirth, women’s employment rates, working hours, career progression, and earnings tend to decline sharply relative to men’s outcomes. These penalties are central to understanding gender inequality in the labor market, explaining most of the earnings gap in many high-income countries.

Research shows that long-run earnings penalties are around 20% in Nordic countries, 30–40% in the U.S. and U.K., and over 50% in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. While policies like job-protected parental leave and childcare may help, child penalties are primarily shaped by labor market structure and gender norms.

The magnitude and persistence of child penalties have made them central to the debate about the gender pay gap. In Denmark, for example, the fraction of the gender pay gap explained by parenthood increased from about 40% in 1980 to over 80% by 2013. To address this issue, policymakers have proposed solutions such as shared parental leave, affordable childcare, flexible work arrangements, and shifts in societal norms.