There’s more guilt-busting news for working mothers and their children, this time via a new Harvard Business School study: Women raised by a mom who worked outside the home are more likely to not only hold jobs, but also to be a manager and earn a better salary (23 percent more) than women with at-home moms. And this holds true for 24 countries examined in the study.

Researchers examined data on some 50,000 women and men from the global research consortium International Social Survey Programme, collected in both 2002 and 2012, and they added local data on employment and gender inequality across countries. After controlling for factors like age, marital status, religion and education, they studied the effects of being raised by a working mom. The research is one of several projects related to Harvard Business School's new Gender Initiative.

Along with the positive effects on daughters, the research also shows that while men are just as likely to have supervisor jobs whether or not their moms worked, those with working moms spend more time doing child care and home chores. “The direct effects are significant across the board,” said business professor Kathleen L. McGinn, PhD, who co-led the research. “There are very few things that we know of, that have such a clear effect on gender equality as being raised by a working mother.”

The positive influence on both genders can go a long way to ease the anxieties of working parents about their children. “There's a lot of parental guilt about having both parents working outside the home,” says Dr. McGinn. “But what this research says to us is that not only are you helping your family economically—and helping yourself professionally and emotionally if you have a job you love—but you're also helping your kids.”