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Motherhood, Pregnancy or Marriage Effects?

Author

Listed:
  • Berniell, Inés

    (University of La Plata)

  • Berniell, Lucila

    (Development Bank of Latin America)

  • De la Mata, Dolores

    (Development Bank of Latin America)

  • Edo, María

    (Universidad de San Andrés)

  • Fawaz, Yarine

    (CEMFI, Madrid)

  • Machado, Matilde P.

    (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid)

  • Marchionni, Mariana

    (Universidad Nacional de la Plata)

Abstract

The existence of large child penalties has been documented for multiple countries and time periods. In this paper, we assess to what extent marriage decisions and pregnancies (rather than live births), which tend to occur around the birth of the first child, explain part of the so-called motherhood effect in labor market outcomes. Using data for 29 countries drawn from SHARE, we show that although marriage has a negative effect on women's employment (3.3%), its magnitude is much smaller compared with the negative effect of a first child (23%). Moreover, we find that pregnancies that end in non-live births have non-statistically significant effects in employment in the following years, supporting the exogeneity assumption underlying identification in child penalty studies. These new results lend support to the hypothesis that childcare, rather than marriage or pregnancy, is responsible for women exiting the labor force upon motherhood.

Suggested Citation

  • Berniell, Inés & Berniell, Lucila & De la Mata, Dolores & Edo, María & Fawaz, Yarine & Machado, Matilde P. & Marchionni, Mariana, 2021. "Motherhood, Pregnancy or Marriage Effects?," IZA Discussion Papers 14841, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14841
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    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Aguilar-Gomez, Sandra & Arceo-Gomez, Eva O. & De la Cruz Toledo, Elia, 2026. "Inside the black box of child penalties: Unpaid work and household structure," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    3. Berniell, Inés & Berniell, Lucila & de la Mata, Dolores & Edo, María & Marchionni, Mariana, 2023. "Motherhood and flexible jobs: Evidence from Latin American countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    4. Inés Berniell & Leonardo Gasparini & Mariana Marchionni & Mariana Viollaz, 2023. "The role of children and work-from-home in gender labor market asymmetries: evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1191-1214, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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