Mallika Thomas found that after the introduction of maternity leave, women are 5% more likely to remain employed but 8% less likely to be promoted. This reduced likelihood of promotion is only among women under 40. The gender gap in promotions was widest in age groups where women had the highest chance of having a child.
Thomas believes this is because employers were hesitant to invest resources in the careers of women who they believe are likely to leave to raise families. In fact, she found that the gender gap in promotions was largest in firms with the highest cost of training.
Maternity leave makes women more likely to stay in the workforce but work part-time. Thomas argues that this trends muddies the water regarding the way in which women can signal superior promotion potential through superior job performance.
As these mothers are likely to stay on but can work part-time, there is a risk in investing in training for these women despite their superior job performance. Investments by employers in training are recouped faster if the worker works long hours.
With more women who are career orientated because of the maternity leave but who are mothers planning to work part-time, superior job performance by women irrespective of whether they plan to be mothers is not as reliable a signal of superior promotion potential as it was before the introduction of maternity leave.
When I write about columns in the New York Times, I’m normally pointing out silly examples of bias or exposing absurd mistakes (with Paul Krugman deserving his own special category for sloppiness, as seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).
But every so often, there’s an insightful piece that is worth sharing rather than worth mocking. And that’s the case with a column by Claire Cain Miller on the unintended negative consequences of policies that ostensibly are supposed to help women but actually hurt them.
In Chile, a law requires employers to provide working mothers with child care. One result? Women are paid less. In Spain, a policy to give parents of young children the right to work part-time has led to a decline in full-time, stable jobs available to…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Feb 02, 2016 @ 16:18:19
I had a look at his criticisms of Kruggers. Hmm if only the man understood the topic.
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