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on Gender |
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Issue of 2024‒11‒11
five papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Diallo, Yaya; Lange, Fabian; Renée, Laetitia |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of paternity leave on the gender gap in labor market outcomes. Utilizing administrative data from Canadian tax records, we analyze the introduction of Quebec's 2006 paternity leave policy, which offers five weeks of paid leave exclusively to fathers. Using mothers and fathers of children born around the reform, we estimate how the policy impacted labor market outcomes up to 10 years following birth. The reform significantly increased fathers' uptake of parental leave and reduced their earnings immediately after the reform. However, in the medium to long-run, we find that the reform did not impact earnings, employment, or the probability of being employed in a high-wage industry for either parent. We for instance find a 95%-CI for the effect on average female earnings 3-10 years following the reform ranging from -2.2 to +1.7%. Estimates of effects on other outcomes and for males are similarly precise zeros. There is likewise no evidence that the reform changed social norms around care-taking and family responsibilities. |
| Keywords: | paternity leave, gender earnings gap |
| JEL: | J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:clefwp:304304 |
| By: | Meng, Meng (Swedish Institute for Social Research) |
| Abstract: | I describe the gender wealth gap in China and explore the reasons behind its expansion in recent decades. The analysis suggests that a combination of China’s 2011 Marriage Law reform and soaring housing prices contribute to this widening gap. The reform shifts the division of housing property upon divorce from an equal (50-50) distribution to one contingent upon the names registered on the housing deed, thereby conferring a wealth advantage to husbands usually registered on the housing deed. Descriptive analysis reveals that men hold more ownership of housing and wealth than women. Specifically, I demonstrate that, post-reform, husbands possess 22% more housing property share than their wives, resulting in an increased housing wealth advantage of 44, 884 CNY (equivalent to 7.9 times the annual income of wives in 2010). A dynamic difference-in-differences (DID) analysis indicates that although husbands’ share of property ownership initially surged and then declined post-reform, their proportion of housing wealth continued to increase and stabilize, primarily due to the rapid rise of housing prices. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis shows a greater property share gap among rural couples but a more pronounced wealth gap among urban couples, attributed to rising housing prices in urban areas. The study concludes with a discussion of how seemingly gender-neutral policies can have gendered economic effects by interacting with traditionally gendered societal norms. |
| Keywords: | gender gap in property; gender wealth gap; property division |
| JEL: | J16 J18 |
| Date: | 2024–05–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofile:2024_003 |
| By: | Axelle Heyert (LaRGE Research Center, Université de Strasbourg); Laurent Weill (LaRGE Research Center, Université de Strasbourg) |
| Abstract: | This study examines how female bank leadership influences firms’ bank debt. We combine bank-level and firm-level data to construct a sample of about 116, 000 firms from eleven European countries. We hypothesize that higher female bank leadership leads to lower firms’ bank debt, consistent with the view of higher risk aversion for women relative to men. We find that female bank leadership reduces firms’ bank debt. This effect varies with the maturity of bank debt, as female bank leadership contributes to lower long-term bank debt but higher short-term bank debt. We also find that female bank leadership exerts a lower detrimental impact on firms’ bank debt for female-led companies. Overall, our results indicate that greater female bank leadership can hamper access to credit of firms. |
| Keywords: | banking, gender, access to credit. |
| JEL: | D22 G21 G41 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lar:wpaper:2024-08 |
| By: | Elizabeth M. Jacobs (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Tom Theile (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Daniela Perrotta (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Xinyi Zhao (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Athina Anastasiadou (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Emilio Zagheni (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines gender differentials in the international migration of professionals, and how this varies by country, industry, age, and years of experience. We leverage data from LinkedIn, the largest professional networking website, to construct immigrant and emigrant Gender Gap Indexes (iGGI and eGGI). These indexes measure inflows and openness to international relocation. The findings indicate that, among LinkedIn users, the global population of immigrant professionals is at gender parity. The professional migrant population is majority-female in key destination countries like the U.S., U.K., Australia and France, as well as emerging destination countries like South Korea and Singapore. Our results show that the mobility of women migrants is driven by industries like finance, healthcare and real estate. We find evidence of positive selection among women migrant professionals in key destination countries and industries. Our results indicate that men are more open to international relocation than women, suggesting that men express higher migration aspirations, but men and women have similar rates of observed mobility. The paper makes novel contributions to the literature on migration aspirations, behavior and selectivity. Methodologically, we develop a new data set and appropriate measures to complement existing sources to study professional migration across a wide range of countries. |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2024-037 |
| By: | Nathan Robbins (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | As couples transition into parenthood, they face many decisions regarding the division of paid and unpaid labor. A key factor in navigating these divisions is whether – and for how long – each partner takes paid parental leave. Previous studies have shown that more generous leave policies lead, in general, to more uptake of leave, but little data exists on the association between leave generosity at the household level. This study assesses the association between paid parental leave generosity on the leave-taking behavior of new parents across 23 European countries, using data from the 2018 European Union Labor Force Survey. I examine how the two key leave policy levers, time (the number of job-protected weeks available) and money (the wage-replacement rate paid), influence whether first-time parents take leave and for how long, and whether these results differ across income groups. Using multilevel regression analysis on a sample of n = 16, 161 couples, I assess the association between time, money, and a measure account for both together. Results indicate a positive relationship between generosity and uptake among both mothers and fathers, but with outcomes twice as large for fathers. I also find differences in results across income groups. The findings highlight the role of paid parental leave in promoting gender equality in household labor division, and the need. The study suggests that enhancing leave policies, especially for fathers, could encourage a more equitable sharing of parental leave and, consequently, the division of paid and unpaid labor. |
| Keywords: | European Union, United Kingdom, division of labor, family policies, parenthood |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2024-031 |