Gender and Lawyer Salaries

Neil Buchanan (GWU) uses U. Mich. Law School alum data in his paper that explores the complex relation between gender and lawyer salaries.  His paper reports that:

"... fathers tend to receive higher salaries than non-fathers (a "daddy bonus"). In addition, mothers earn less than non-mothers (a "mommy penalty"). There is also some statistical support for the inference that there is a penalty associated purely with gender (women earning less than men, independent of parenthood), another result that is unique to the literature.

Analyzing full- or part-time status as well as work hours also suggests a key difference between women and men. Those who take part-time status are almost entirely women who take on child-rearing duties, and they reduce their work hours by an average of approximately thirty percent. These statistical results are, however, significantly less reliable because of the very small numbers of respondents (male or female) who work less than full time."

Comments

[bluebook]

Mom - It's a penalty when compared to what happens to dads in the same situation. They get a bonus, while women get a penalty. It's not children that are the penalty, but the result on the salary of having children.

[mom]

why call it a 'mommy penalty' when i chose to step out of the work force and have not a penalty but a child? i'd love to comment further but i am going to take my 'penalty' to the playground.