Though a majority of mothers of young children are employed outside the home, countless articles have been devoted to anecdotes about highly educated women in high-status occupations "opting out" of the labor force. Are mothers in these occupations in fact the most likely to opt out or reduce their work hours? Do race, ethnicity, or age of children play a role? Addressing these questions in a wide-ranging study, Liana Christin Landivar sheds important new light on the motherhood-employment link.

Acknowledgments -- The opt-out narrative -- Changes in employment policies and cultural attitudes -- Employed mothers become the norm -- Doctors or dishwashers? : a look at who opts out -- Opting to stay : schedule flexibility and reduced work hours -- Does age matter? -- The motherhood wage gap and delayed fertility -- Looking at the big picture -- Appendixes -- A: Occupation categories -- B: Descriptive statistics -- C: What about fathers? -- D: Occupation coefficients derived from hierarchical models -- E: Women's earnings by occupation, age, and presence and age of children among full-time, year round workers -- F: Data sources -- References.