El Efecto de la Maternidad Sobre los Ingresos Femeninos

this paper analyzes the effect of the number and age structure of children on women's income in colombia. on average, mothers earn 17.6% less than non-mothers. since not all women participate in the labor market, sample selection is a potential issue that is, therefore, corrected. the empirical results confirm the existence of a significant wage penalty for motherhood. after controlling for observables and sample selection, an income gap of 9.4% between mothers and non-mothers remains. this gap is wider when the children are under 5 years old, 18.4%. this gap is partly explained by the fact that mothers are more likely than non-mothers to be employed in lower quality jobs in which they do not contribute to health care and pension, as well as by the fact that being a mother substantially increases household responsibilities for women.