Abstract
It is well established that mothers are paid less than childless women and that fathers tend to earn higher wages relative to childless men, but we do not know whether these findings apply to workers in all occupations. Using IPUMS and ACS data from 1980 and 2010, we examine the family wage gap for highly educated professionals, the most advantaged sector of the occupational distribution. Results indicate that the size of the negative wage differential for motherhood has declined over time in all professions. Moreover, in the traditionally male-dominated professions of STEM, medicine, and law, women with children experience a positive wage differential, whereas their counterparts in female-dominated professions continue to experience a negative one. The positive differential for fatherhood has remained stable over time. These findings underscore the growing heterogeneity of women's experiences in combining work and family and raise important questions for further research.
- Copyright © 2016 by Russell Sage Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Reproduction by the United States Government in whole or in part is permitted for any purpose. This project was supported by Award Number R01EB010584 from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and a Coca Cola Critical Difference for Women Grant Program at the Ohio State University. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering or the National Institutes of Health. Siqi Han provided research assistance. We appreciate helpful comments from Martha Bailey, Tom DiPrete, and anonymous reviewers. Direct correspondence to: Claudia Buchmann at buchmann.4{at}osu.edu, The Ohio State University Department of Sociology, 238 Townshend Hall 1885 Neil Avenue Mall, Columbus, OH 43210; and Anne McDaniel at mcdaniel.145{at}osu.edu, The Ohio State University Center for the Study of Student Life, 517 Lincoln Tower, 1800 Cannon Drive, Columbus, OH 43210.
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