My research
I study how parenthood and gender shape labour market outcomes, using survey experiments and systematic reviews. An overview of my work can be found below.
Peer-reviewed publications
This study investigates how parenthood influences employers’ hiring decisions and the underlying signals that drive this discrimination. Prior research has consistently shown a motherhood penalty in hiring, whereas evidence on fatherhood remains less clear. Yet, most studies simplify parenthood into a binary distinction between parents and non-parents, neglecting potential variations based on the number and age of children. Moreover, little research has examined the underlying reasons for these disparate hiring decisions. A state-of-the-art vignette experiment was conducted with 452 real recruiters in Flanders (Belgium). Recruiters evaluated fictitious job applicants, whose parental status varied, on invitation rating and 16 theoretically relevant stigmas. Mothers received lower invitation ratings than non-mothers, regardless of the number and age of children, which can be understood by a range of negative stigma, including lower flexibility, higher absenteeism risk, higher career break risk, and lower willingness to work overtime. For men, a penalty was found when they had many children, especially older children. Compared to fathers with fewer children, those with three children were seen as less ambitious, less flexible, less likely to work overtime, and more likely to have experienced recent loss of skills. The study highlights the persistent motherhood penalty and demonstrates that the fatherhood effect depends on the number and age of children.
Working papers
In tight labour markets, where employers compete not only on wages but also on amenities such as job family friendliness, employer-provided childcare arrangements serve as a powerful tool to attract and retain working parents. Yet little causal evidence exists on how employees evaluate such benefits. Therefore, this study uses a scenario experiment among working parents of young children to examine how job attractiveness is shaped by variations in employer-provided childcare arrangements – in terms of location, opening hours, and price – along with the possibility of teleworking. Our results show that all forms of employer-provided childcare increase job attractiveness, with childcare facilities operating on schedules explicitly aligned with employees’ working hours having the strongest effects. Working parents are willing to forego a 20% wage increase in a new job to obtain this latter amenity. They expect such amenity to improve their job satisfaction, performance, stress management, and work–family balance. Our results imply that the policy offers mutual gains for both employees and employers.
This letter contributes to the literature on gender disparities in professional life by exploring how men and women perceive the impact of parenthood on career outcomes. It does so through the lens of perceived employer-given opportunities (‘chances’) and perceived own career-related behaviour (‘choices’). We focus on how employees perceive this impact not only on their own careers but also on those of other parents. To this end, we survey a probability sample of 1,060 employees in Belgium. We find that fathers perceive a less negative impact of parenthood on their own careers than mothers do, in terms of both chances and choices. Additionally, mothers perceive greater career penalties for other mothers than they report for themselves. These insights are valuable in understanding how self-fulfilling prophecies may shape parents’ careers.
Surging demands for the care of dependent relatives increasingly pull workers out of paid employment. However, upon returning to the labour market, former caregivers often face hiring discrimination. Still, it remains unclear which caregiving engagements trigger this care penalty, what mechanisms sustain it, and how it can be countered. Conducting a factorial survey experiment with professional recruiters, this study compares hiring evaluations across multiple care- and non-care-related career breaks and identifies the mechanisms that anchor them. The findings show that the scarring effects of care-related breaks are less pronounced than those of long-term unemployment spells, but still substantial. Perceptions of skill loss, reduced commitment, and limited future availability fuel the care penalty. These negative perceptions are most evident following childcare-related breaks. Nonetheless, recruiters prove responsive to targeted counter-stereotypical cues: signalling flexibility or adaptability increases caregivers’ hireability, but not for the long-term unemployed.
Disparities in labour market outcomes between parents and non-parents arise partly from discriminatory practices. Understanding these unfair practices is essential for fostering workplace equity. Our systematic review of the literature summarises employer discrimination based on various manifestations of parenthood in multiple labour market outcomes. Unlike previous studies, our review encompasses not only motherhood but also fatherhood and the stages preceding parenthood, namely fertility and pregnancy. In terms of labour market outcomes, we consider discrimination in hiring, remuneration, promotion, and dismissal. We also focus exclusively on experimental research, enabling causal conclusions about discrimination and its underlying mechanisms. Our synthesis suggests that employers consistently penalise women in the labour market when they have children, during pregnancy, and during their fertile years. In contrast, men often experience no adverse effects or even a premium when they have children. Researchers frequently find evidence of statistical discrimination as the primary explanation for their findings. Employers appear to rely predominantly on information based on norms and stereotypes to make decisions about parents in the labour market. We offer a roadmap for academics, policymakers, and employers to map and mitigate this phenomenon in the long term. In particular, we highlight fruitful directions for future research, including (i) more broadly assessing the effects of fertility, (ii) more effectively manipulating parenthood in experiments, (iii) more frequently investigating dismissal as a labour market outcome, and (iv) more profoundly examining the mechanisms of parenthood discrimination.
Work in progress
In this vignette experiment, we present Flemish recruiters with fictitious job candidates who vary in their family situation. Rather than focusing on the mere presence of children, we zoom in on the presumed caregiving responsibilities that come with different family arrangements, such as the presence of a partner. This allows us to examine whether and how hiring decisions are shaped not just by parenthood per se, but by the caregiving burden employers assume candidates carry.
The three key reproductive life course experiences, i.e., menstruation, maternity, and menopause, collectively referred to as the three M’s, affect many employees as a growing number of women participate in the labour force. However, their implications for these women’s working lives have received limited and fragmented attention in the literature. This study therefore provides the first systematic literature review integrating evidence on the impact of the three M’s on work performance and attendance. Following the SPIDER framework and PRISMA guidelines, this study systematically reviews 57 articles. Across all three M’s, findings consistently show reduced work performance, increased presenteeism, and higher absenteeism, explained by interacting biological, psychological, and contextual factors. This study also identifies important limitations in the existing literature, including the dominance of cross-sectional designs, the reliance on subjective measures, and the lack of attention to workplace solutions that address the three M’s collectively.
This page was last updated on 15 June 2026.