New research by Dr Angelina Nazarova at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, with Dr Damian Clark at the University of Exeter and Professor Sonia Bhalotra from the University of Warwick, has uncovered a ‘daughter penalty’ for mothers with a distinct disadvantage to their future earnings and wellbeing if their first born is a daughter rather than a son.
Using data from Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study, the research team followed the lives of new mothers over a 10 year period and found that those who gave birth to daughters went on to earn 30 per cent less than those who had sons. They were close to 15 per cent less likely to be working when their daughter was five years old, compared to mothers of sons, and took a 17 per cent drop in working hours compared with the mothers of sons. Fathers of daughters had no significant fall to ther earnings.
Mothers of daughters also had increased proportions of household chores and spent more time on housework than mothers of sons.
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