The ¡°vast majority¡± of the gap in publication rates between men and women at research-intensive universities can be explained by the ¡°productivity penalty¡± paid by mothers, especially in the first few years after childbirth, a new study suggests.

Using a survey of about 3,000 academics at 450 computer science, history, and business departments in the US and Canada ¨C and linking this to data on their publications ¨C researchers compared productivity rates over time between parents and those without children.

They found that although women without children still produced fewer papers on average than male non-parents ¨C suggesting other potential gender biases at work ¨C the gap was larger when comparing mothers and fathers.

The total productivity of women with children was between 73.6 per cent and 82.9 per cent of fathers¡¯ publication output over the same early career period analysed in the study, as opposed to women without children publishing between 87.6 per cent and 95.6 per cent of male non-parents¡¯ output.

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After comparing the publication output of men and women of similar age, career point and type of institution, the researchers ¨C mainly from the University of Colorado Boulder ¨C also found ¡°the annual productivity of mothers decreases immediately after childbirth, compared to nonmothers or men¡±.

Specifically, the data suggested ¡°that the event of parenthood sharply decreases short-term productivity for mothers¡± by up to 48 per cent ¡°but generally not for fathers with the exception of the field of history¡±.

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It adds that the effect may also be underestimated by the study ¡°because parenthood may drive individuals to leave academia before being observed by our sample ¨C a selection effect that may be stronger for those individuals who experience larger parenthood productivity losses¡±.

¡°Our results are consistent with a simple causal relationship between time available for research and overall productivity, in which parenthood specifically reduces the latter for women much more so than for men,¡± the paper,?, adds.

¡°Hence, policies aimed at providing more workplace flexibility for parents, such as accessible lactation rooms and affordable childcare, are likely to lessen the impact of parenthood on research time.¡±

The research does say that the size of the ¡°parenthood penalty¡± appears to be shrinking over time.

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For example, since 2000, mothers in computer science have produced on average 5.4 fewer papers than fathers ¨C equivalent to about one year¡¯s work in the discipline ¨C a gap that is about 18 papers, or five years¡¯ work, for the whole sample.

¡°This trend may reflect broader changes in gender roles, possibly driven by the increasing proportions of women, or the growing prevalence of paid gender-neutral parental leave policies,¡± the paper says. It adds that results from the survey also indicated ¡°broad support for such policies among academics and points to the role these policies play in the recruitment and retention of women¡±.

However, it adds that the continuing productivity gap between mothers and fathers was also ¡°consistent with the idea that gender norms around parenting and who allocates more time to childcare ultimately drive a differential and larger impact on women¡¯s careers¡±.

Such an impact was also bound to emerge when an ¡°event occurs that is filtered through these norms¡± such as the Covid-19 pandemic, where various studies have already suggested that women¡¯s research productivity?has been hit harder?by the extra childcare demands wrought by the crisis.

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simon.baker@timeshighereducation.com