Gender, motherhood, and the perception of just earnings: Results of a multifactorial (vignette) study

Gender pay gaps and wage penalties for mothers are well-established phenomena. Their persistence may be partially explained by the fact that the unequal distribution of rewards between genders is often perceived as just and legitimate. The goal of our study was to establish to what extent and under what conditions motherhood and fatherhood status affect perceptions of just inequalities. Using expectation states theories, we predicted that there would be greater acceptance of the unequal distribution of rewards between women and men with the same job experience in top-level occupations compared with bottom and mid level occupations. We also predicted that being a male or female parent would further accentuate the relationship between gender and occupational prestige, leading to acceptance of even greater income gaps between mothers and fathers. A vignette study conducted in 2017 on a representative sample of Polish respondents active in the labor force, which yielded approximately 38,000 observations, provides evidence partially conforming to our predictions. That is, willingness to tolerate differences in just earnings for men and women is higher in the high occupational status categories than in the medium and low occupational status categories. The effects of parenthood are less clear. Although the legitimized difference in earnings varies by age and parenthood status, we found rather moderate levels of motherhood penalties and much higher premiums for fatherhood, especially at the early stages of men’s careers. In addition, contrary to our predictions, mothers in high-prestige occupations were not penalized more than mothers in low and medium prestige occupations. Perceptions of legitimized inequalities between genders were independent of respondents’ characteristics.