Women in heterosexual couples lose the most from becoming parents

A new Nordic study, led by researchers at Stockholm University, shows how gender roles and family policy affect parents' earnings, and how this differs across countries and welfare systems. Comparing heterosexual and lesbian couples has been a key component of the analysis.

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When a couple has a child, the birth parent's income decreases, but how much depends on both the couple's gender composition and which Nordic country they live in. This is shown in a new study by researchers at SOFI, based on register data from more than 170,000 different-sex and 2,800 female same-sex couples in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland.

– By comparing same-sex and different-sex couples, we can better understand how much of the earnings gap is driven by gender roles. Same-sex couples serve as a kind of test. When gender norms do not shape behaviour in the same way, it becomes clearer what role family policy actually plays in parents' economic conditions, says Marie Evertsson, professor of sociology at the Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI).

The study shows that women lose labour income after the birth of their first child. In female same-sex couples, the earnings loss for the birth parent is considerably smaller than in heterosexual couples, particularly in Sweden, where family policy makes it easier for parents to share both parental leave and childcare responsibilities, and also in Denmark, where children enter childcare at an earlier age.

Finland tells a different story. In addition to parental leave, a home care allowance encourages parents to stay at home for longer. Fewer opportunities for part-time work, combined with norms linked to biological motherhood, likely reinforce the effect of extended leave. As a result, the researchers find that birth mothers in same-sex couples in Finland stay at home to a greater extent, and consequently face earnings losses of a similar magnitude to mothers in heterosexual couples.

The researchers tracked couples' earnings for three years before and five years after the birth of a child. The study shows that when both parents are women, and are therefore less likely to be affected by heteronormative expectations, the distribution of earnings becomes more equal, particularly in countries without home care allowances and with early childcare provision.

– The findings suggest that family policies that encourage both parents to work and share responsibilities can reduce long-term earnings gaps between parents, says Marie Evertsson.

Read the full study: Stimulating (In)equality? The Earnings Penalty in Different-Sex and Female Same-Sex Couples Transitioning to Parenthood in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Published in the American Journal of Sociology: https://doi.org/10.1086/735884