Mutual Impact between Motherhood and Educational Enrollment in Eastern Europe

Cornelia Muresan, Babes-Bolyai University

This study investigates how motherhood can be combined with continued investment in human capital in Eastern Europe and how socioeconomic context plays a role in the education/family balance. With GGS data we show that, as overall, Eastern Europe does not have a pattern distinct from Western Europe: pregnancy has no effect on duration of studies, motherhood before end of education prolongs the studies, and enrolment strongly reduces the risk of transition to motherhood. However, trends regarding easiness to combine enrolment with childbearing show important differences. At around the 2000s, in former communist countries, pregnancy during studies starts to trigger the end of education and a child conceived before the last successful completion of education occurs rather after then. The Western European countries instead keep their privileged situation more friendlily with combining motherhood and studies.