Graphic detail The cost of love and labour How motherhood hurts careers A new study measures its impact on women’s employment worldwide“W hen things are shitty we change them”, read a placard held aloft at a “March of the Mummies” protest in Britain in October 2022. Little has been understood about how much of this gap is explained by mothers leaving formal work after giving birth. The effect of motherhood on employment varies widely between countries. By contrast, in the poorest countries motherhood explains only about 10% of the gap. As a result, the overall employment gap in these countries is little different from that in low-income ones.