I Went To Law School For This? The Motherhood Penalty In Young Female Attorneys' Salaries

Abstract

This study presents two estimates of a motherhood penalty for young female attorneys. In the first phase, I utilize three different models in a regression analysis to examine which theoretical mechanisms might explain the presence of a motherhood penalty. In the second phase of this study, I employ a two-stage counterfactual approach utilizing a doubly robust weighted regression. I control for likelihood of selection into treatment with variables representing the most common theoretical mechanisms leading to the motherhood wage penalty, then utilize that selection likelihood to weight a second regression. I find that while there is a small motherhood penalty in the first phase multiple regression, there does not appear to be a motherhood penalty when only female attorneys are examined in the second phase weighted regression. I discuss implications of these findings and directions for future research.