Firm-Specific Motherhood Penalties

This paper quantifies how motherhood penalties vary across firms. Using Dutch administrative employer–employee data we estimate firm-specific motherhood penaltiesin earnings, hours, wages, and labor force participation for 2,877 firms. We document large heterogeneity: over the ten years following childbirth, mothers at firms inthe 10th percentile of the penalty distribution experience earnings losses exceeding 50 percent, compared with about 20 percent at firms in the 90th percentile. Differences across firms are driven primarily by adjustments in hours worked. Firm-level variation in motherhood penalties rivals differences observed across countries, highlighting the central role of workplaces in shaping gender inequality.