This trend was not observed in balanced or female-dominated occupations, researchers from Indiana University said.
"Mothers were 52 per cent more likely than other women to leave their jobs if they were working a 50-hour week or more, but only in occupations dominated by men," said Youngjoo Cha, assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at IU Bloomington.
"Many of these are lucrative fields, such as law, medicine, finance and engineering," Cha said.
The study, published in the journal Gender & Society, reveals how overwork contributes to occupational segregation and stalls efforts to narrow the gender gap in white-collar workplaces.
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The study analysed data collected from the Survey of Income and Programme Participation, a national longitudinal household survey, conducted by the US Census Bureau.
It included 382 occupations, 173 of which were considered male-dominated, where men made up 70 per cent or more of the workforce.
The study found that in male-dominated occupations, overwork was more likely than in balanced fields or female-dominated fields.
Mothers in male-dominated occupations were more discouraged despite the fact that the women who survived in those more masculine fields may on average be more committed to work than overworking women in other jobs.
Meanwhile, men (whether fathers or not) and women without children were not more likely to leave their jobs in overworking fields.