Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine whether or not gender-related differences affect the likelihood of promotion. Design/methodology/approach - The research is done on a unique dataset on the Swedish audit industry, an industry with a well-defined and well-known career ladder. We apply an ordered probit model to take all steps in the career ladder into consideration simultaneously. Findings - Females are on average less likely to be promoted. Separate regressions for males and females identified that the estimated promotion probability increases for males as an effect of having a child, but decreases more for males than females if males are highly involve in the care of these children. Thus, females who are involved in childcare are penalised by lower probability of promotion; however, males who are highly involved in childcare have much more to lose in terms of promotion than females do. For a family, this becomes a question of how to lose the least. Originality/value - Having access to unique data, from a policy perspective our study gives some new insight into the uneven distribution between genders of career interruptions related to childcare.