Balancing a legal career and childcare

A new study analyzes some of the ramifications of taking time out to take care of children. The study uses data from University of Michigan Law School grads. It's called "Gender and the Legal Profession" (follow link for the full study). The study profiles not only what happens when you take time out (you end up being happier, but less wealthy -- surprise!), but also what type of people do it, and some of the social stereotypes around it.

One of the study authors described the results to Law Students Building a Better Legal Profession:

In a nutshell, we find that childcare responsibilities drive much of the differences in income and promotion experienced by men and women lawyers, and that men who miss paid work to do childcare experience the same disadvantages as women who miss paid work to do childcare. We also find that both more men and more women lawyers are missing paid work to do childcare, that they are taking longer absences from paid work to do childcare, and they are working less hours after they return to their careers.

Some of our less systematic, but more curious findings are that: in part male lawyers earn more than women lawyers because they are more interested in income than the woman lawyers; women who have kids but who do not miss paid work to do childcare are more likely to be in private practice and be a partner than women without kids, even though women without kids work more hours; and women who miss paid work to do childcare have significantly higher LSAT’s and GPA’s than women who don’t miss paid work to do childcare.