<i>It is most implausible to suggest that giving birth and caring for young children is the predominant reason why female executive managers, who average 50 years old in our sample, quit. Other unobserved factors leading managers to attrit could include more un-pleasantness, indignities, and tougher unrewarding assignments at work, examples of factors that reduce the attraction of work without necessarily affecting productivity or human capital acquisition.</i><p>Although this does not support the &quot;more qualified&quot; argument, the study was specifically tailored to control for attrition from pregnancy, and the authors conclude that they are not entirely sure why older female executives quit at a higher rate than comparable male executives. It&#x27;s not unreasonable to assume that it could be due to &quot;discrimination&quot; in the form of indignities and unfair assignment of tough&#x2F;menial work, as the authors suggest.