One of the worst career moves a woman can make is to have children. Mothers are less likely to be hired for jobs, to be perceived as competent at work or to be paid as much as their male colleagues with the same qualifications.
For men, meanwhile, having a child is good for their careers. They are more likely to be hired than childless men, and tend to be paid more after they have children.
These differences persist even after controlling for factors like the hours people work, the types of jobs they choose and the salaries of their spouses. So the disparity is not because mothers actually become less productive employees and fathers work harder when they become parents ”” but because employers expect them to.
I don’t know whether she is right or wrong. Anecdotally I think she is wrong. But this looks like another example of data used to “prove” a predetermined outcome. Ill bet her research grant also came from the federal government. I’ll also bet her income is not influenced by any of the factors she cites. When I was with a very large law firm in the Deep South, which could easily have discriminated in the 80s and 90s, none of what she says was true. I am now with a national law firm and none of what she says is true about us either. So, I don’t know if she is right or wrong, but anecdotally I think she is wrong.
I’ve seen some inequitable and unfair practices in my many decades on this world, but, as David Keller, I haven’t seen any of this.