|
on Gender |
|
Issue of 2022‒05‒23
seven papers chosen by Jan Sauermann Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Bhalotra, Sonia R. (University of Warwick); Fernandez, Manuel (Universidad de los Andes); Wang, Fan (University of Houston) |
| Abstract: | We develop an equilibrium model of the labor market to investigate the joint evolution of gender gaps in labor force participation and wages. We do this overall and by task-based occupation and skill, which allows us to study distributional effects. We structurally estimate the model using data from Mexico over a period during which women's participation increased by fty percent. We provide new evidence that male and female labor are closer substitutes in high-paying analytical task-intensive occupations than in lower-paying manual and routine task-intensive occupations. We find that demand trends favored women, especially college-educated women. Consistent with these results, we see a widening of the gender wage gap at the lower end of the distribution, alongside a narrowing at the top. On the supply side, we find that increased appliance availability was the key driver of increases in the participation of unskilled women, and fertility decline a key driver for skilled women. The growth of appliances acted to widen the gender wage gap and the decline of fertility to narrow it. We also trace equilibrium impacts of growth in college attainment, which was more rapid among women, and of emigration, which was dominated by unskilled men. Our counterfactual estimates demonstrate that ignoring the countervailing effects of equilibrium wage adjustments on labor supplies, as is commonly done in the literature, can be misleading. JEL classifications: J16, J21, J24, J31, O33 |
| Keywords: | Female labor force participation ; gender wage gap ; technological change ; supply-demand framework ; task-based approach ; wage distribution ; wage inequality |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1404&r= |
| By: | Panayiota Lyssiotou; Ružica SavÄ ic |
| Abstract: | We exploit the changes in the distancing measures instituted by the UK government in the different phases of the pandemic to identify the impact on the daily lives of couples with children and gender equality within the household. We estimate a weighted tobit simultaneous system of market, housework and child care hours of parents and correct for possible endogeneity of the wages. We find that once the restrictive measures were lifted there was a significant increase in the hours of paid work and decrease in the hours of housework and childcare of both parents. The changes were not significantly different among the two parents. These findings confirm previous evidence that access to market childcare services increases the working hours of mothers. They also indicate that the initial pandemic shock did not eliminate pre-pandemic inequalities in the labour market and division of housework and childcare among parents with underage children. The evidence tends to suggest that changes in gender norms for more equality within the family are more likely to occur when the shock is enforced by law or has a long enough duration to change the behaviour of men and women and shape the norms of the next generation. |
| Keywords: | time allocation; COVID-19; gender equity; labour supply; housework; childcare |
| JEL: | D13 J16 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2022–05–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucy:cypeua:03-2022&r= |
| By: | Jon H. Fiva; Max-Emil M. King |
| Abstract: | Women tend to experience substantial declines in their labor income after their first child is born, while men do not. Do such “child penalties” also exist in the political arena? Using extensive administrative data from Norway and an event-study methodology, we find that women drop out of local politics to a larger extent than men after their first child is born. Parenthood also seems to have a differential long-term effect on women and men's political careers, which may explain why women, especially women with children, are underrepresented at higher levels of the political hierarchy. |
| Keywords: | gender gap, child penalties, political selection |
| JEL: | D63 D72 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9611&r= |
| By: | Jonas Tungodden; Alexander Willén; Alexander L.P. Willén |
| Abstract: | Parents make important choices for their children in many areas of life, yet the empirical literature on this topic is scarce. We study parents’ competitiveness choices for their children by combining two large-scale artefactual field experiments with high-quality longitudinal administrative data. We document three main sets of findings. First, parents choose more competition for their sons than daughters. Second, this gender difference can largely be explained by parents’ beliefs about their children’s competitiveness preferences. Third, parents’ choices predict children's later-in-life educational outcomes. Taken together, these findings provide novel evidence on the role of parents in shaping children’s long-term outcomes. |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9516&r= |
| By: | Swati Sharma (Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi) |
| Abstract: | Workplace interactions have been identified as a valuable source of information and career advancement. This study examines workplace interaction by looking at personal ties of 1744 blue-collar workers in 2 garment manufacturing units in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi, India. Data analysis shows that men have a more expansive set of personal ties, even after controlling for variation in interpersonal and workplace-related characteristics. Women’s personal networks are smaller, clustered within their functional units and more homogeneous. While supervisors do not figure in personal networks of either gender, women are significantly less likely to mobilize interactions with supervisors for professional or personal purposes. Thus, women’s personal ties at the workplace exhibit patterns that are opposite of those identified by existing literature as instrumental for career advancement. |
| Keywords: | gender, workplace ties, social networks, garment manufacturing, India |
| JEL: | D21 D22 J40 M51 Z13 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:awe:wpaper:426&r= |
| By: | Field, Erica (Duke University); Vyborny, Kate (Duke University) |
| Abstract: | In cities with conservative norms or high crime, female workers may face greater restrictions on their physical mobility. This limits women’s labor market opportunities and the pool of workers that firms can attract. In this study, we experimentally vary access to a transport service in Lahore, Pakistan, to quantify the overall impact of transport to work on men, women, and the differential impact of transport exclusively for women. We show that reducing physical mobility constraints has a large impact on job searching for women, including women who are not searching at baseline. Women’s response is driven by a women-only transport treatment arm, suggesting that safety and social acceptability, rather than simply cost, are key constraints. |
| Keywords: | transport; mobility; gender; female labor force participation |
| JEL: | J16 J22 J28 L91 |
| Date: | 2022–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0655&r= |
| By: | Claudia Goldin |
| Abstract: | The impact of the pandemic on the employment, labor supply, and caregiving of women is assessed. Compared with previous recessions, that induced by COVID-19 impacted women’s employment and labor force participation more relative to men. But the big divide was less between men and women than it was between the more- and the less-educated. Contrary to many accounts, women did not exit the labor force in large numbers, and they did not greatly decrease their hours of work. The aggregate female labor force participation rate did not plummet. The ability to balance caregiving and work differed greatly by education, occupation, and race. The more educated could work from home. Those who began the period employed in various in-person “service” occupations and establishments experienced large reductions in employment. Black women were more negatively impacted beyond other factors considered and the health impact of COVID-19 is a probable reason. The estimation of the pandemic’s impact depends on the counterfactual used. The real story of women during the pandemic concerns the fact that employed women who were educating their children, and working adult daughters who were caring for their parents, were stressed because they were in the labor force, not because they left. |
| JEL: | J0 J20 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29974&r= |