The large growth in the gender gap in earnings for MBAs during their first 15 years out of school, is mainly a consequence of gender differences in career interruptions and weekly hours worked. Women have more career interruptions, and work shorter hours, including more work in part-time positions and self-employment. Although these differences are modest, the remuneration disparity they entail is exceptionally large. The relationship between income and time off is highly nonlinear for those in our sample. Any career interruption—a period of 6 months or more out of work—is costly in terms of future earnings, and at 10 years out, women are 22 percentage points more likely than men to have had at least one career interruption. Deviations from the male norm of high hours and continuous labor market attachment are greatly penalized in the corporate and financial sectors.

The presence of children is the main contributor to the lesser job experience, greater career discontinuity, and shorter work hours for female MBAs. Across the first 15 years following the MBA, women with children have about an 8 month deficit in actual post-MBA experience compared with the average man, while woman without children have a 1.5 month deficit. Similarly, women with children typically work 24 percent fewer weekly hours than the average male; women without children work only 3.3 percent fewer hours.