The motherhood penalty and the professional credential: inequality in career development for those with professional degrees

Abstract

Transitions from education to work constitute a distinct set of situations where discrimination is likely to occur. Gender beliefs generally disadvantage women, and when coupled with beliefs regarding parental responsibility, tend to heavily disadvantage mothers. Yet we suggest that professional credentials create a divided labour market, with ameliorative effects. Credentials tend to match specifically to jobs and replace other means of determining the performance expectations of various job candidates. This should be especially true in the public sector, where hiring procedures are more transparent. As a result, we hypothesise that mothers with professional credentials will be less disadvantaged within the occupational market matched to their credentials, especially in the public sector. Data from Sweden, following 43,646 graduates with professional degrees into the labour market, generally support this interpretation, though substantial motherhood penalties remain in many professions. We briefly discuss the implications of these findings.

Keywords:

• motherhood penalty
• academic professions
• career
• discrimination

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Swedish Research Council.

Notes

1. GOthenburg educational Longitudinal Database.