The wage penalties associated with motherhood have been well studied in economics. Research by Camille Landais, winner of the 2016 Best Young French Economist Award, has shown that the birth of a child results in a significant loss of income for women.

In France, according to recent data published by Landais and his coauthors, this penalty related to motherhood amounts to 25%. It is even higher in countries where social norms around gender roles are more traditional and where public policies for early childhood are less developed. In Italy, for instance, it reaches 33%, and in Germany, 41%.

This loss of income cannot be explained by women's career paths or their exit from the workforce. Nor can it be explained by the very real constraints imposed by the birth of a child. Not only do heterosexual men not experience any loss of income related to the birth of a child, which might be explained by mothers still being primarily responsible for childcare, but the same is true for both fathers in a same-sex couple. And yet, it stands to reason that at least one of them must look after the child. Therefore, economists conclude that, at least in part, the "penalty of motherhood" can be understood in light of discrimination in the labor market. This penalty is one of the main reasons for the wage gap between women and men – up to 80% in France.

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