Diverging Family Trajectories and Gendered Earnings Gaps: The Long-Term Impact of Parenthood across Family Types

Sina C. Löwe, Hertie School, DYNAMICS Doctoral Program, Humboldt University of Berlin
Carla Rowold, Hertie-School
Julia Leesch, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Nicole Hiekel , Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Across Europe, family and household structures have become increasingly diverse, reshaping the contexts in which gender inequalities in work and income develop. This study links the diversification of family life courses across cohorts to the long-term accumulation of gendered economic (dis)advantage after the transition to parenthood. We ask how women’s and men’s earnings trajectories evolve within different family types and how the composition and structure of families shape gender gaps over time. Using linked survey and administrative data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and public pension records (SOEP-RV), we analyse annual earning points that track relative income from three years before to sixteen years after first childbirth. Sequence cluster analysis identifies seven distinct partnership trajectories, ranging from stable marriages to long-term single parenthood. Preliminary findings reveal persistent gendered inequalities in earnings that differ substantially across family types. Men’s earnings remain consistently higher, while women’s earnings drop sharply after childbirth and recover only partially over time. The widest gender gaps appear in stable marriages, where men’s earnings rise and women’s earnings decline. In contrast, men’s earnings stagnate or fall following union dissolution, while women’s earnings tend to increase, narrowing the gender gap within these family forms. Mothers in stable cohabitations also show comparatively high and stable earnings. Next analyses will assess how cohort change and family diversity jointly shape gendered earnings inequalities, distinguishing between shifts in the composition of family types and differences in gendered earnings returns within them. This study establishes family diversity as a new frontier of gender inequality.

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 Presented in Session 57. Flash Session Assortive Mating, Education and Social Class