Unequal Burdens: Motherhood, Immigration, and Occupational Outcomes—Are Immigrants Always at a Disadvantage?

ABSTRACT Scholarship has extensively documented both the motherhood penalty and immigrant disadvantage in European labor markets. A growing body of research has examined differences in motherhood penalties between native and immigrant women, yet less is known about how these penalties vary within immigrant populations according to origin. This article addresses this gap by analysing how motherhood and immigrant origin jointly structure women's employment and occupational outcomes in France. Drawing on data from the Enquête Emploi en Continu (2015–2020), the analysis demonstrates that while mothers across all groups exhibit lower employment probabilities than childless women, the magnitude of this penalty is greatest among immigrant mothers, particularly those of non‐European‐origin. In terms of occupational attainment, European‐origin immigrant mothers largely retain their professional advantage, whereas non‐European‐origin immigrant mothers show substantially lower professional representation compared to their childless counterparts. These findings highlight how motherhood and origin intersect to produce unequal labor market outcomes and reveal hidden ethnic hierarchies within the motherhood penalty.