Counting the days: parenthood and the gender gap in absenteeism

This study is the first to estimate the effect of parenthood on total job absences, including both short- and long-term spells. Unlike prior work on formal sick leave records, I incorporate day-to-day absences, which account for most absence events and reflect broader margins of health and time strain. I find that mothers’ absences increase by 1.25 days per month 2 years after birth, stabilizing at 0.85 days – a 4.6–5.7% loss in annual workdays. The penalty is driven mainly by mothers’ own sickness and concentrated in long spells. It is largely unaffected by working hour or within-couple bargaining power. These findings uncover an overlooked mechanism behind the child penalty and deepen our understanding of gender inequality in labour supply.