The influence of motherhood on income: do partner characteristics and parity matter?

Abstract

Although the economic independence of women has been greatly advanced in recent decades, it continues to lag far behind men's in the Netherlands and elsewhere. The negative consequences of motherhood are an important driving force behind women's abiding lower income. Although mother's lower earnings have received a substantial amount of attention from scholars and the underlying mechanisms are well established, surprisingly little is known about mitigating factors. This article contributes to the literature by investigating how the earnings disadvantage of mothers is affected by partner characteristics and by parity. We formulate hypotheses about the effect of a partner's working hours, his earnings and his gender role orientations, on the earnings disadvantage associated with motherhood. Furthermore, we examine the role of parity in this earnings disadvantage. Our hypotheses are tested using longitudinal data from the first three waves of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study. Our hypotheses concerning partner characteristics are not supported. The earnings disadvantage of mothers is hardly affected by them. We do find that parity matters greatly in examining the effect that motherhood has on women's earnings. The transition to motherhood has a much larger effect on earnings than the birth of subsequent children. The implications of these findings and the specificity of the Dutch context are discussed. RESUMEN ARTICLE HISTORY

Motherhood, Fatherhood, and the Gender Gap in Occupational Authority1

“…The pivotal transition theory has received more empirical support in studies outside the U.S. Hsu (2021), for example, found that in Japan, a woman's first birth, rather than the second, leads to a larger and more persistent earnings penalty. Other studies have also shown that compared to subsequent births, the first child is associated with a larger penalty in earnings in Norway (de Hoon et al 2017) and a larger penalty in occupational status in other European countries (Abendroth et al 2014). In line with these studies, I hypothesize the following: The motherhood penalty in authority will be larger for the first child than for subsequent children (Hypothesis 2a).…”

“…Other studies have also shown that compared to subsequent births, the first child is associated with a larger penalty in earnings in Norway (de Hoon et al. 2017) and a larger penalty in occupational status in other European countries (Abendroth et al. 2014).…”

Comparing labour induction outcomes using misoprostol and dinoprostone in term pregnancies: A retrospective study at Kiambu Level 5 Hospital between 2018 and 2020

“…However, in the latter study, being single was found to be associated with maternal death. This difference may be due to single and highly educated women earning more than their married counterparts [19]. This associated increase in wealth may have attributed to quality obstetric care and being well-informed [18,20].…”

La maternidad: percepción universitaria sobre sus efectos en el ámbito laboral, académico y social

“…Y a mayor edad de las mujeres, la penalidad salarial por maternidad disminuye, pero influye el nivel de escolaridad. Por otro lado, el tema de los cuidados en ocasiones conlleva que las horas que destinan los hombres al trabajo doméstico, a pesar de que estas vayan en aumento, no tienen implicaciones directas en los ingresos de las mujeres, ya que ellos evitan actividades que incluyan el cuidado de los niños (Gash, 2009;Felfe, 2012;Staff y Mortimer, 2012;Gamboa y Zuluaga, 2013;Viitanen, 2014;De-Hoon et al, 2017;Li, 2017;Morgenroth y Heilman, 2017).…”