US women narrowed the pay gap with men by having fewer kids
Women in the U.S. typically earned 85% as much as men for every hour they spent working in 2024. However, working women are faring much better than their moms and grandmothers did 40 years ago. In the mid-1980s, women were making only 65% as much as men for every hour of paid work.
Women’s wages have improved relative to what men earn in part because of gains in their education and work experience, and because women have moved into higher-paying occupations. But progress toward pay equality has stalled.
As sociologists and demographers, we wanted to know whether changes in American families might also have helped women come closer to pay equality with men. In an article published in June 2025 in Social Forces, an academic journal, we argued that this pay gap is becoming smaller in part because women are having fewer children.
Moms earn less but dads earn more
In the U.S. and elsewhere, ample evidence shows that parenthood affects men’s and women’s wages differently.
Compared to remaining childless, motherhood leads to wage losses for women. And those losses are larger when women have more kids.
By contrast, after men become fathers their wages usually rise.
Because having kids tends to push women’s wages down and men’s wages up, parenthood widens the gender pay gap.
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https://theconversation.com/us-women-narrowed-the-pay-gap-with-men-by-having-fewer-kids-261811