The child penalty in conservative and liberal parts of Norway

Parenthood can result in large earning penalties for women. The gap in earnings that emerge between fathers and mothers after first childbirth is called the child penalty. In this thesis, I use Norwegian administrative data to examine how the magnitude of the child penalty varies with the strength of traditional gender norms. The results indicate that women who have grown up with more conservative gender roles on average experience larger child penalties. The thesis also finds evidence suggesting that the penalty gap depends on household structures. More specifically, the results suggest that women in relationships with men who have grown up with conservative gender roles experience an even greater child penalty than other women