Being a mom is hard enough (I know!) without the labor market working against us. Academics have now amassed evidence from Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Germany, and the United States on the key moments when women fall behind men in earnings. The figures all look the same, and they’re striking. In a recent talk, my colleague Professor Marianne Bertrand shows men and women's wages track each other until the birth of their first child. But a baby comes, and the mother slows down, takes time off, works part time, and/or restricts her job search to closer to home. The result: she never really recovers—something Bertrand calls the "motherhood penalty." (Take a look: her talk starts at 2:11:30.)

Christina Hachikian, AB ’02, MBA ’07, is the executive director of the Rustandy Center and an adjunct associate professor of strategy