For many women in the U.S. and around the world, motherhood comes with career costs.
Raising children tends to lead to lower wages and fewer work hours for mothers – but not fathers – in the United States and around the world.
As a sociologist, I study how family relationships can shape your economic circumstances. In the past, I’ve studied how motherhood tends to depress women’s wages, something social scientists call the “motherhood penalty.”
I wondered: Can government programs that provide financial support to parents offset the motherhood penalty in earnings?

A community for parenting and parenthood.
This community’s icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.