Women's earnings drop after childbirth, study finds

Date:
April 20, 2022
Source:
Cornell University
Summary:
When U.S. couples have their first child, mothers' earnings
still drop substantially relative to fathers', and new research
demonstrates the stubborn, decades-old pattern isn't changing
despite broad increases in other aspects of gender equality.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
When U.S. couples have their first child, mothers' earnings still drop substantially relative to fathers', and new Cornell University research demonstrates the stubborn, decades-old pattern isn't changing despite
broad increases in other aspects of gender equality.


==========================================================================
The research indicates the relative drop in the earnings of mothers cuts
across all education levels. The COVID-19 pandemic may lock the income imbalance in place as mothers who pulled back to care for children face
worse hiring prospects and wage penalties as they seek to restart their
work lives.

An article on the research, "Change and Variation in U.S. Couples'
Earnings Equality Following Parenthood," was published March 22
in Population and Development Review. The research was conducted
by sociologists Kelly Musick of the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of
Public Policy, Pilar Gonalons-Pons of the University of Pennsylvania
and Christine Schwartz of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

"The gender revolution has stalled, and women remain economically
vulnerable," Musick said, noting the country is an outlier among wealthy nations in offering no mandated paid leave following childbirth, no system
of subsidized childcare and scant public support for working families.

The study is one of the first to assess changes over time in within-family earnings inequality, tracking what happened to the incomes of couples
over a full 10 years. The researchers used detailed survey results
and administrative tax records that provide long-run data on earnings,
birth and marriage dates and key characteristics such as education.

The researchers analyzed a period of about 30 years, from the
1980s through the 2000s. They found a brief period in the 1980s
when wives became less financially dependent on their husbands after parenthood. Wives' earnings share dropped 13 percentage points following
the first birth in the 1980s, relative to 10 percentage points in the
2000s. That modest change held largely true no matter the education or
income level of the husband and wife.

Musick said the similarities by education were something of a surprise
because disparities -- especially among those with and without a
college degree -- have grown in other aspects of family life over this
time period. "Across groups, wives become more financially dependent on
their husbands after parenthood," the researchers concluded, a worrying
sign particularly in the U.S., where divorce remains common and policy
support for families is weak.

"The pandemic puts into sharp relief the pitfalls of our fend-for-yourself approach to managing work and family," Musick said. The pandemic also
creates an opening for policymakers to build a stronger "infrastructure
of care" and the success of that effort will shape gender inequalities
in work and family in the decades to come, she said.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Cornell_University. Original written
by Jim Hanchett, courtesy of the Cornell Chronicle. Note: Content may
be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Kelly Musick, Pilar Gonalons‐Pons, Christine
R. Schwartz. Change
and Variation in U.S. Couples' Earnings Equality Following
Parenthood.

Population and Development Review, 2022; DOI: 10.1111/padr.12481 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220420151611.htm

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