OBJECTIVES: Maternity is associated with a penalty in the labour market. The paper examines the impacts of maternity in the participation and wages differentials of women in Brazil, in the period from 1992 to 2014.

METHODS: Microdata from the National Survey by Household Sample of IBGE, from 1992 to 2014, of 2,327,134 women, aged 15 to 60 years, are analyzed. A log-linear regression of Mincerian wages was estimated through the Heckman process, which corrects the sample selection bias. The independent variable indicated whether the woman was a mother, besides the covariates (age, experience, schooling, sector of economic activity, formality and place of residence).

RESULTS: The estimates of the selection equation indicate that, in media during the analyzed period, maternity reduces in 13.5% (p < 0.000) the participation in the labor market. In the wage equation estimates indicate that women with children have, on average, a wage of 20.8% (p < 0.000) less than those who do not have children. The other covariates included in the empirical model were also significant.

CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that maternity in Brazil reduces both the participation and wages of women in the labor market. Consequently, to increase their participation, women have had fewer children, which has contributed to the reduction of fecundity in the country. Therefore, there is a need to broaden public policies seeking to reconcile motherhood and participation in the labor market, such as the greater offer of daycare centers, reducing the cost of opportunity for motherhood.