Is employment during motherhood a ‘value changing experience’?

We study whether the experience of ‘employment during motherhood’ (EDM) exerts an effect on attitudes towards welfare effects EDM, which proxy gender norms with regards to employment. examine unique evidence from a large, representative, and longitudinal data set that collects attitudinal over about decade in United Kingdom. draw instrumental variable (IV) strategy exploits variation local labour markets using Bartik instrument for employment address potential endogeneity EDM explaining attitudes. find both childless women who work mothers do not are more likely agree statement 'pre-school children suffer if their work', we interpret as traditional values. However, this is case have children. These findings suggest motherhood confirms individuals' priors, value preserving rather than changing experience. results so-called ‘motherhood penalty’ trajectories cannot be fully explained by change after giving birth.