The Motherhood Penalty in Denmark - Heterogeneity Across Sectors, Firms and Workers

This project has three main aims. First, a comprehensive investigation will be carried out into the drivers and correlates of the motherhood penalty in the Danish labour market (i.e., the sustained drop in wages, employment probabilities or promotion probabilities faced by mothers after childbirth compared to childless women or fathers) and its implications for gender wage and career progression gaps. Second, a mapping of the heterogeneity in this penalty will be undertaken both within and across sectors, firms and worker types. Finally, the observed rise in the motherhood penalty over time will be explained using analysis of variance methods including any changing role of sorting by mothers across firms.