"The Motherhood Wage Penalty in America" by Jennifer A. Boden

Article Title

Authors

Jennifer A. Boden, University of Northern Iowa

Document Type

Article

Abstract

The difference in pay between mothers and otherwise comparable non-mothers is called the family gap. Mothers are paid less than non-mothers on average. Is it because mothers are different than non-mothers or are mothers penalized because of their decisions to have children? Previous studies have found that after controlling for demographic and human capital characteristics, mothers are paid less than non-mothers on average. This study uses 2008 American Community Survey data and finds evidence that the family gap exists in the United States.

Publication Date

Spring 2010

Journal Title

Major Themes in Economics

Volume

Issue

First Page

Last Page

Copyright

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Language

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Boden, Jennifer A. (2010) "The Motherhood Wage Penalty in America," Major Themes in Economics, 12, 1-21.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/mtie/vol12/iss1/3