The Effect of Maternity Leave on Children's School Outcomes

This paper analyses the effect of taking a maternity leave and having an opportunity to take paid maternity leave on a child's academic performance in school. The panel data regression analysis of 328 children from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, born between the years 2002 and 2007, their academic records from 2010 to 2019 and their household characteristics revealed that taking a maternity leave while having paid leave provided by the employer increases a child's average grade by 3.2%, while not taking paid maternity leave offered by the employer decreases a child's average grade by 4%. This could be indicative of the fact that mothers whose jobs provide paid maternity leave tend to have more secure and higher paid jobs and that helps create better conditions for upbringing. However, upon including the measure of a mother's worry to lose her job as an instrumental variable, the effect of taking paid maternity leave becomes insignificant, while not taking paid maternity leave provided by the employer decreases a child's average grade by 5.4%.