Is Public Sector a Better Place for Moms to Work? Exploring Sector Difference in Child Penalties on Women

With commonly stabler and more flexible working environment, is public sector a better place for moms to work? Theorizing child penalties from sector difference perspective, we argue that childbirth may cause less gender gaps in unemployment and earnings but greater gender disparities in working time commitments in the public sector since job stability and family‐friendliness may form gender norms that depreciate women's work in the public sector. We test our hypotheses by employing event study designs using data from China Family Panel Studies (2010–2022). We found that women public employees experienced smaller child penalties in unemployment and earnings while greater child penalties in working hours than private counterparts, which can be explained by greater family responsibilities and spousal depreciation of women's jobs after childbirth. This paper advances theories of gender equity in public administration by proposing distinct child penalties in the public sector that challenges conventional beliefs.