Unpaid care and the gender pay gap: Literature review of recent evidence

3. Unpaid Childcare

This section provides an overview of the review’s findings on the financial impacts and impact on the determinants of the gender pay gap from unpaid childcare.

3.1 Financial impact of unpaid childcare

A loss of earnings for individuals who provide unpaid childcare:

• The Joseph Rowntree Foundation identifies that on average individuals who provide unpaid childcare in the UK experience an accrued loss of £100,000 in gross pay over 6 years ^[11].

The impact on earnings is more substantial for mothers than it is for fathers:

• A Danish study found that after birth mothers experience a 30% drop in earnings which persists 20 years after the birth of their first child, while men did not experience a drop in earnings despite parallel earnings trajectories before birth ^[12].
• Similarly, a study from the Netherlands found that mothers show a drop in earnings, compared to fathers, particularly those without tertiary education ^[13].

Impacts on earnings varied depending on ethnicity:

• When compared to women without children of the same ethnicity, mothers of White, Black African, Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi ethnic groups show lower hourly pay and mothers of Chinese and Black Caribbean heritage show higher hourly pay ^[14].
• Fathers on the other hand show higher hourly pay than men without children of the same ethnicity, except for fathers of Black African heritage who show lower hourly pay ^[14].

There are variations in earnings change for same sex and heterosexual mothers:

• Studies from Norway and the Netherlands indicate mothers in same sex relationships have a smaller drop in earnings compared to heterosexual mothers. One study suggests same sex partners also show a drop in earnings, however, that gap closes two years later while the gap in earnings persists for heterosexual couples ^[15]. The loss in earnings for heterosexual mothers is twice as large in comparison to same sex mothers even seven years after birth ^[16].

3.2 Impact of unpaid childcare on working pattern and hours

A majority of mothers who worked full time see a reduction in hours or do not return to full time work after giving birth. Examples from the literature show:

• One study showed that nearly half of those working full time before going on maternity leave come back to part-time work, with 36% returning to full-time work 11. Another study found new fathers typically remain in full-time work, or if not employed full-time prior to birth, move into it ^[17].
• A study from Denmark found that while working hours are similar for men and women before birth, after birth these hours reduce sharply for women, whilst men are unaffected. The hours worked begin to converge after 20 years but the earnings differential continues to diverge ^[12].
• A study looking at couples in Norway showed that same sex mothers who gave birth reduced their monthly hours by 20 hours compared to heterosexual mothers who reduced their hours by approximately 40 hours ^[15].

3.3 Impact of unpaid childcare on workplace flexibility and career progression

Mothers are more likely to work in sectors with high flexibility and sacrifice career progression. Examples from literature show:

• After giving birth, the probability of working in the public sector or in family friendly firms increases for women in Denmark ^[12]. In Spain there is a high probability of women working in sectors with high flexibility and a lower probability of working in sectors associated with long working hours, compared to men ^[18].
• A study from Italy suggests that women with children are more likely to work in companies associated with lower productivity, sales, capital and wages, compared to women without children ^[19].
• In the UK women are more likely to change employers due to family related reasons rather than for an increase in salary or career progression ^[20].
• A Danish study shows the career progression of mothers’ lags behind that of fathers after birth, even though trajectories were similar before ^[12].

3.4 Impact of unpaid childcare on participation in labour market and work experience

Mothers are more likely to take a break from the labour market due to childcare responsibilities compared to fathers and women without children:

• In the Netherlands there is a decline in female participation in the labour market after birth, which is persistent even after 10 years, compared to marginal drops for fathers ^[13].
• Mothers in the UK have a lower likelihood of employment compared to women without children, as well as men with and without children ^[14].
• The drop in labour market participation is particularly pronounced for women who do not hold tertiary level education. A study found mothers in Finland with low education levels take longer employment breaks due to childcare ^[21].
• In the UK at the start of lockdown, mothers were more likely to terminate their employment, be made redundant or furloughed, resulting in mothers taking on twice as much childcare and household responsibilities in comparison to their working partner ^[22].