Sacrificing their careers for their families? An analysis of the penalty to motherhood in Europe

Description: This paper examines the extent of and the mechanisms behind the penalty to motherhood in six European countries. Each country provides different levels of support for maternal employment allowing us to determine institutional effects on labour market outcome. The papers findings confirm those of previous research in the area: mothers tend to earn less than non-mothers. However, the conditions of maternal employment are not the same in all countries, with less evidence of a penalty to motherhood in countries supportive of working mothers. The paper established the United Kingdom and West Germany to have the least policy support for working mothers as well as the largest penalties to motherhood.