The motherhood penalties : insights from women in UK academia

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Di Leo, Riccardo and Epifanio, Mariaelisa and Scotto, Thomas J. and Troeger, Vera E. (2026) The motherhood penalties : insights from women in UK academia. Community, Work & Family. pp. 1-23. ISSN 1366-8803 (https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2026.2618679)

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Abstract

The motherhood penalty is often understood as a salary differential between mothers and non-mothers. We use an original survey of academic women in the UK to understand whether the motherhood penalty extends to other dimensions of a woman's career and experience in the workplace. We explore these penalties via an original survey of academic women in the UK. Becoming a mother, we show, has no effect on salary, but slows down career progression. Mothers report higher levels of job satisfaction yet indicate heightened perceptions of gendered salary unfairness. We then explore several factors potentially mitigating the motherhood penalties. On the formal side, more generous maternity provisions are associated with higher salaries, and longer childcare hours facilitate career progression. On the informal side, a sympathetic Head of Department boosts job satisfaction. At home, having a supportive partner plays a key role in mothers' professional success. Our paper highlights the varied penalties mothers encounter even in a highly skilled profession, and the necessity of a multi-faceted policy response.

ORCID iDs

Di Leo, Riccardo, Epifanio, Mariaelisa, Scotto, Thomas J. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4801-6821 and Troeger, Vera E.;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)