A Man's Blessing or a Woman's Curse? The Family Earnings Gap of Doctors

We examine the size and determinants of the family earnings gap for Australian general practitioners ( GP s). Female GP s with children earn more than $30,000 less than comparable female GP s without children, while male GP s with children earn more than $45,000 more than comparable male GP s without children. The main determinants of the family gap are differences in observable characteristics such as working hours, labor‐force attachment, and demographics, and additionally, for men, entrepreneurship and practice size. A fixed‐effects extension of the analysis confirms both the carer effect of children on female GP s and the breadwinner effect of children on male GP s.