How Much Does Social Security Offset the Motherhood Penalty?

The brief’s key findings are:

• When women become mothers, their earnings often take a substantial, and permanent, hit that becomes larger with each additional child.
• The question is, how do Social Security provisions address this motherhood penalty once women enter retirement?
• The results show that Social Security offsets a substantial portion of the motherhood penalty, both for mothers in general and for each additional child.
• Despite Social Security’s equalizing role, a motherhood penalty will remain in retirement without policy intervention, such as earnings credits for caregivers.