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on Gender |
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Issue of 2023‒03‒27
seven papers chosen by Jan Sauermann Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Baskaran, Thushyanthan (Ruhr University Bochum); Hessami, Zohal (Ruhr University Bochum) |
| Abstract: | We investigate how female representation impacts policymaking using the example of child care and new hand-collected data on local council elections in Bavaria. RDD estimations (mixed-gender races for last party-specific council seats) show that an additional female councilor accelerates the expansion of public child care by 40%. We also document an important nonlinearity: an additional woman accelerates the expansion of child care only in councils with few women. Council meeting minutes reveal that women can be effective in councils despite being a non-pivotal minority because they change "the conversation". |
| Keywords: | gender composition, political selection, local councils, child care |
| JEL: | D72 D78 H70 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15983&r=gen |
| By: | Jonas Jessen; Sophia Schmitz; Felix Weinhardt |
| Abstract: | We study the local evolution of female labour supply and cultural norms in West Germany in reaction to the sudden presence of East Germans who migrated to the West after reunification. These migrants grew up with high rates of maternal employment, whereas West German families mostly followed the traditional breadwinner-housewife model. We find that West German women increase their labour supply and that this holds within households. We provide additional evidence on stated gender norms, West-East friendships, intermarriage, and child care infrastructure. The dynamic evolution of the local effects on labour supply is best explained by local cultural learning and endogenous child care infrastructure. |
| Keywords: | cultural norms, local learning, gender, immigration |
| JEL: | J16 J21 D1 |
| Date: | 2022–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdp:dpaper:0001&r=gen |
| By: | Harkness, Susan; Popova, Daria; Avram, Silvia |
| Abstract: | Understanding disparities in the rates at which men and women’s wages grow over the life course is critical to explaining the gender pay gap. Using panel data from 2009 to 2019 for the United Kingdom, we examine how differences in the rates and types of job mobility of men and women – with and without children - influence the evolution of wages. We contrast the rates and wage returns associated with different types of job moves, including moving employer for family reason, moving for wage or career-related reasons, and changing jobs but remaining with the same employer. Despite overall levels of mobility being similar for men and women, we find important differences in the types of mobility they experience, with mothers most likely to switch employers for family related reasons and least likely to move for wage or career reasons, or to change jobs with the same employer. We find that, while job changes with the same employer and career related employer changes have large positive wage returns, changing employers for family related reasons is associated with significant wage losses. Our findings show that differences in the types of mobility experienced by mothers compared to other workers provide an important part of the explanation for their lower wage growth and play a crucial role in explaining the emergence of the motherhood wage gap in the years after birth. |
| Date: | 2023–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2023-02&r=gen |
| By: | Danzer, Natalia (Free University of Berlin); Garcia-Torres, Sebastian (Freie Universität Berlin); Steinhardt, Max F. (Free University of Berlin); Stella, Luca (Free University of Berlin) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the relationship between women's representation in political power and school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a cross-country dataset in Europe, we document a striking negative relationship between the share of female members in national governments and school closures. We show that a one standard deviation increase in female members of national governments is associated with a reduction in the likelihood of school lockdowns by 24% relative to the average share of school closures. This result is robust to an extensive set of sensitivity checks. We attribute this pattern to a higher awareness of female politicians about the potential costs that school closures imply for families. |
| Keywords: | school closures, COVID-19, gender, political economy |
| JEL: | H52 I18 I20 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15975&r=gen |
| By: | Sona Badalyan; Darya Korlyakova; Rastislav Rehak |
| Abstract: | We focus on communication among hiring team members and document the existence of discrimination in the disclosure of information about candidates. In particular, we conduct an online experiment with a nationally representative sample of Czech individuals who act as human resource assistants and hiring managers in our online labor market. The main novel feature of our experiment is the monitoring of information flow between human resource assistants and hiring managers. We exogenously manipulate candidates’ names to explore the causal effects of their gender and nationality on information that assistants select for managers. Our findings reveal that assistants disclose more information about family and less information about work for female candidates relative to male candidates. An in-depth analysis of the disclosed information suggests that gender stereotypes play an important role in this disclosure discrimination. Furthermore, assistants disclose less information about foreigners overall. This effect appears to be driven by the less attention assistants are willing to devote to the CVs of foreigners, measured by the extra effort to learn more about the candidates. |
| Keywords: | Information; Disclosure; Hiring; Discrimination; Foreigners; Women; Online Experiment; |
| JEL: | C90 D83 J71 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp743&r=gen |
| By: | Lumengo Bonga-Bonga (College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, University of Johannesburg); Thabiso Molemohi (College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, University of Johannesburg); Frederich Kirsten (College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, University of Johannesburg) |
| Abstract: | The Coronavirus pandemic has caused major economic restrictions and job losses that have disproportionately affected the most vulnerable in society. Studies report that in South Africa females have suffered greater job losses compared to males during the pandemic and while extensive research has been conducted on the gender-biased impact of national restrictions, little is known about how personal characteristics could have further exacerbated gender inequalities. By using the NIDS-CRAM waves and the NIDS Wave 5 dataset this paper estimated the impact personal characteristics like the level of education, age and number of children have had on dissimilar job losses for males and females in South Africa before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results confirm the importance of personal characteristics reducing job losses for both males and females in the pre-pandemic and pandemic period. However, the results also confirm that these personal characteristics do have gender-biased impact on job losses during the pre-pandemic and pandemic period. For example, tertiary education was a stronger protector against job losses for females before the covid 19 pandemic. However, during the pandemic education reduces significantly as protector against job losses for females and becomes more relevant for males keeping their jobs. Age remained a strong positive protector against job loss for females compared to males in both periods, while the number of children increased the chances of females losing their job more so than males during the pandemic period. These results provide vital insight into the role of personal characteristics in shaping gender-biased job losses during the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods in South Africa. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, Gender inequality, job losses, South Africa, National Income Dynamics Study-Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ady:wpaper:edwrg-08-2023&r=gen |
| By: | Mathias Huebener; Jonas Jessen; Daniel Kuehnle; Michael Oberfichtner |
| Abstract: | Motherhood and parental leave are frequent causes of worker absences and employment interruptions, yet we know little about their effects on firms. Based on linked employer-employee data from Germany, we examine how more generous leave benefits affect firm-level employment and hiring decisions. Focusing on small- and medium-sized firms, we show that more generous benefits reduce firm-level employment in the short term, which is driven by firms with few internal substitutes for the absent mother. However, firms do not respond to longer expected absences by hiring fewer young women, even when few internal substitutes are available. To rationalise the findings, we show that replacement hiring occurs largely before the expected absence and that firms hire more external replacements when fewer internal substitutes are available. These findings indicate that extended leave does not harm _rms when these can plan for the longer worker absences. |
| Keywords: | Parental leave, worker absences, worker substitutability |
| JEL: | J16 J18 J24 |
| Date: | 2022–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdp:dpaper:0007&r=gen |