Abstract
We use an original and comprehensive survey of academic women in the United Kingdom to address the different dimensions of the motherhood penalty. In such high-skill sector, being a mother appears to have no effect on salaries, but it still slows down career progression. We also go further and ask how motherhood affects women's perception of their working environment. While mothers are more likely to feel discriminated in the allocation of tasks and remuneration, they report higher levels of job satisfaction. We then explore whether generous maternity leave provisions can help mitigating the motherhood penalties, discovering a positive and significant effect on current salaries. We find that an even distribution of childrearing responsibilities within the household correlates positively with current salary; support from line managers and the availability of forms of relief are associated with higher current satisfaction and perceived fairness of salary/responsibilities, compared to men. Our work, thus, stresses the importance of a multi-faceted policy response to the motherhood penalties.