Professor Yana Gallen Discusses Mothers' Productivity and the Gender Wage Gap

Harris Public Policy Professor Yana Gallen was featured in an article in The Wall Street Journal, discussing young mothers' productivity on the job and the gender wage gap.

"Dr. Gallen's study found women are paid less than male workers, regardless of whether they are mothers," the article said.

"The natural explanation is that employers think you're going to become a mother, so they pay you less in anticipation," Gallen said.

Full coverage available at the Wall Street Journal.

In addition, Gallen penned an article in The Hill describing her research in further detail:

"Put simply, firms don’t seem to be making tons of money by hiring women to do as much work as men but then underpaying them. This means that if equal pay legislation really forced firms to change the pay of women, we may expect many firms to stop hiring women or to change the way they classify the jobs women do."

Full coverage available at The Hill.

Further coverage explaining Gallen's research is available at the Becker Friedman Institute. For additional information about Gallen's work, see "Equal Pay and Equal Productivity: One Economist's Search for Answers."