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With the birth of a child, many women lose some of the demanding and complex tasks at work that are considered career-enhancing. This is shown by a new study from the universities of Bremen and Oldenburg. It thus highlights a previously little-noticed aspect of gender inequality.
The study “The Job Task Penalty for Motherhood” is the first systematic analysis of how motherhood affects the content of paid work. Professor Wiebke Schulz from SOCIUM – Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy – at the University of Bremen says: “While many studies to date have focused primarily on wage differences or career breaks, this analysis focuses on the specific tasks that women perform in their everyday working lives.”
Women Who Reduce Their Working Hours Are Particularly Affected.
The results show a clear pattern: After childbirth, a decrease is observed in the likelihood that analytical tasks – such as demanding reading, writing, or arithmetic – are carried out by mothers. Complex tasks that require problem solving, a willingness to learn, or dealing with unforeseen situations also decline, according to the study. The same applies to interactive activities such as counseling, customer contact, or coordination.
"It is striking that these changes occur primarily among mothers who reduce their working hours. In contrast, there are hardly any shifts in the task profile when working hours remain unchanged,” emphasizes Professor Gundula Zoch from the University of Oldenburg.
Work-Life Balance as the Main Explanation
However, no systematic differences were found depending on the duration of parental leave or career changes. "Longer career breaks do not automatically lead to greater shifts in the activity profile. Nor does a change to a different professional position explain the changes," says Schulz.
According to the authors, the findings therefore primarily support explanatory approaches that focus on the stress caused by the need to balance family and career. Less support is found for theories that point to a loss of qualifications due to longer breaks or to conscious career changes to supposedly more family-friendly roles.
Significance for Career Paths
Zoch: “The study makes it clear that motherhood not only influences income and the extent of employment, but also the quality and demands of work. Analytical and complex activities in particular are considered career-enhancing and are often associated with better promotion opportunities.”
By highlighting these task-related disadvantages, the study points to a dimension of gender inequality in the job market that has often been overlooked. According to the authors, the study therefore underscores the importance of labor market policy and workplace measures that not only ensure mothers' participation in the job market, but also guarantee their access to challenging and career-promoting tasks.
Long-Term Data from Germany Evaluated
The study in the Journal of Marriage and Family is based on data from the National Education Panel for the years 2011 to 2020. It looked at 1,978 women, comparing their professional activities before and after giving birth. Fixed effects models were used to isolate changes within the same person. This made it possible to distinguish the effects of childbirth from stable individual characteristics.
Prof. Dr. Wiebke Schulz, University of Bremen, SOCIUM – Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy, Phone: +49 421 218-58648, Email: wschulz@uni-bremen.de
Prof. Dr. Gundula Zoch, University of Oldenburg, Institute for Social Sciences, Tel.: +49 441 798-2152
Email: gundula.zoch@uol.de
https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.70046
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