Motherhood and Female Labour Supply

The problem of gender inequality in the labor market has not lost its relevance for many decades throughout the world. Moreover, against the background of traditional discrimination in the labor market compared to men, the level of women's competitiveness is also influenced by the presence of children, which leads to a wage gap between mothers and childless women. Analysis of the current situation shows that gender inequality is increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic crisis has reversed the progress made in achieving gender equality over the past few decades. The final qualifying work examined the relationship between women as a labor force and the presence of children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The subject of the study is the variables influencing the employment of women-mothers. The object of the study is women with children. The study used data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Study conducted by the Higher School of Economics for 2016-2022. More than 120 thousand respondents participated in these studies. After a data selection process, 16,825 women ultimately participated in the study. General scientific methods of analysis and synthesis were used to process primary information; abstract-logical, economic-statistical, calculation-constructive research methods. The dependent variable and the factors (independent variables) influencing it were identified. Since the study is aimed at identifying factors influencing the labor supply of women with children, the dependent variable Y is the presence or absence of employment for a woman. The study concluded that in 2020 it was more difficult for women to find a job. The effect of the pandemic is statistically significant, however, the total number of employed women and mothers is constantly growing, including in 2020. This may be due to many factors, the study of which is worthy of a separate study.