Gender inequality: What happens to women’s jobs after children?

Gender inequality affects women’s economic and social outcomes in almost every domain. It is visible in pay, employment and earning gaps, patterns of occupational segregation, and the limited presence of women in leadership roles and political institutions.

These gaps widen further for women who take on a primary role in childrearing, often at precisely the moment when careers would otherwise accelerate.

A study from Germany shows that once they take on the task of raising children, women are assigned fewer analytical, complex and interactive tasks, particularly when they reduce…