The Last Hurdle? Unyielding Motherhood Effects in the Context of Declining Gender Inequality in Latin America

MARCHIONNI, MARIANA; PEDRAZZI, JULIÁN

Mendoza

Congreso; Reunión Anual de la Asociación Argentina de Economía Política; 2023

Universidad Nacional de Cuyo

We assess whether motherhood could be the last hurdle to achieving gender equality indeveloping countries by exploring the link between motherhood and the overall gender gapin the labor market for 14 Latin American countries over the last two decades. Using pseudo-panels built from harmonized household surveys and an event study approach around thebirth of the first child, we find that the arrival of the first child leads to a sharp and persistent35% decline in mothers’ earnings. This result is explained by a reduction in employment anda prompting shift towards occupations that favor more flexible work arrangements, includingpart-time and informal jobs. These effects are pervasive across countries and populationgroups. Furthermore, using an extended version of the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, weidentify motherhood as the primary source of income inequality between men and women.Motherhood explains 44% of the remaining gender gap and has progressively gained relativeimportance over the last two decades while other contributing factors, such as educationand its associated returns, have shown a waning impact. Moreover, we find no clear cross-country association between the motherhood-related gap and per capita GDP or gendernorms, while the contribution of other factors to the gender gap in earnings diminisheswith higher per capita GDP and more gender-egalitarian social norms. This suggests thatgender gaps stemming from the motherhood effect exhibit greater rigidity than other driversof gender inequality.