From PhD to employment: gender gaps in early career outcomes among doctorates in Italy

The transition from doctoral studies to employment marks a critical juncture in women’s attrition from academic careers. Parenthood – particularly motherhood – is often identified as a key factor influencing both scientific productivity and the decision to remain in academia. This paper investigates gender differences in early career outcomes among PhD graduates in Italy, using nationally representative cross-sectional survey data from six educational cohorts of doctorate holders. We develop an analytical model to examine the relationship between scientific productivity, academic employment, and parenthood. Using Linear Probability Models, we estimate the determinants of two key outcomes: publishing more than three articles and holding an academic position four to six years after PhD completion. Controlling for pre-employment characteristics, we find that early academic employment is positively associated with productivity for both men and women. Parenthood, by contrast, is negatively associated with productivity only for mothers, and with a lower probability of academic employment for both genders. Despite these patterns, substantial gender gaps persist in both outcomes, consistently favouring men. A Kitagawa–Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition reveals that a large share of these differences remains unexplained by observable characteristics, pointing to structural or institutional barriers that contribute to persistent gender disparities in early academic careers.