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Alex Hill's avatar

At the risk of sounding pedantic, this doesn't suggest that the motherhood penalty itself is a myth, just that it isn't caused by biased worker evaluations. But was this ever really a leading hypothesis of the cause? Time taken out of careers to have children and need for flexible/less-demanding work thereafter are the primary drivers afaik.

E.g. one meta-analysis finds that:

"While the gaps associated with the total number of children are mostly explained by the loss of mothers' human capital during child-related career breaks, the gaps associated with one child are predominantly driven by mothers' choice of jobs and occupations that pay less."

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X20300144

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jesse porter's avatar

I would add that a certain amount of bias exists in favor of a motherhood penalty. The feminist cause if rife with bias against motherhood, as it is against marriage and families. Any scientific study can be shaped by strong negative feelings toward men, families, and children. Feminists have long ago ceased to be about rectifying wrongs in favor of reverse bias against biology.

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