the impact of gender role attitudes on women's fertility choices and labour market outcomes...
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The Impact of Gender Role Attitudes on Women's Fertility Choices and Labour Market Outcomes Across OECD Countries
By Nicole M. FortinDepartment of EconomicsUniversity of British Columbia
September 2006
CIAR - Social Interactions, Identity and Well-Being
2
Stylized Facts of Interest
After two decades on spectacular gains, in many OECD countries, progress in the gender earnings gap has more or less
stalled in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the United States and Sweden since the mid 1990s
there are also been a stabilization in female labour force participation in Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom.
3
In Fortin and Schirle (2006), we find a gender earnings ratio in Canada around 78% since 1992
More recent data from the LFS 2004 shows that the ratio was still at 80%
Figure 1. Female/Male Median Earnings Ratio in Canada Source: Fortin and Schirle (2006) – SCF data
Age 16-64
Annual Earnings
Age 25-54
Age 16-64
Hourly Wage
Age 25-54
0.6
0.65
0.7
0.75
0.8
1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997
4
In Fortin and Schirle (2006), we find that female labour force participation has stabilized since the early 1990s
Figure 2. Male and Female Labour Force Participation by Age Group in Canada Source: Fortin and Schirle (2006) – SCF data
male age 16-64
male age 25-54
female age 16-64
female age 25-54
0.35
0.45
0.55
0.65
0.75
0.85
0.95
1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
5
■ Bernstein (EPI, 2005) presents a similar view of the US gender pay ratio.
6
Motivation
The fact that this stabilization has occurred in many different countries under different economic conditions makes one suspicious that more than the usual economic factors may be at play.
Indeed, Blau and Kahn (2004) who study the slowing gender wage convergence in the United States attribute the slowdown to factors that contributed to changes in the unexplained gender gap
The popular press (Belkin, 2003; Wallis, 2004; Story, 2005) has suggested the notion that women are increasingly “opting out” of employment when they have children.
7
Motivation
Sociologists (Cotter, Hermsen and Vanneman, 2006) wonder whether we are witnessing “The End of the Gender Revolution”
There is, of course, the possibility that we have simply exhausted the labour market effects of the “Pill” revolution
Goldin (2004), Goldin and Katz (2002) and Bailey (2006) have provided compelling evidence that changes in labour market outcomes of cohorts born from late 1940s on are due to innovation in contraception
8
Changes in Labour Force Participation by Birth-Cohort
Source: Bailey (2006) for the United States
9
Changes in Labour Force Participation by Birth-Cohort
Source: Schirle (2006)
10
Hypotheses If indeed it actually exists, the “opting-out” phenomena
would be affecting the 1975-1980 birth cohorts
Interestingly, this phenomena could also be characterized in terms of an identity conflict.
The “Pill” revolution may have allowed women to embrace men’s identity as breadwinners
But women may be uneasy about renouncing their traditional identity as mothers and homemakers
This identity conflict is sometimes referred to as the “working mother’s guilt”
11
Hypotheses This is a situation where the women’s own well-being is
challenged
An alternative explanation offered by the proponents of the “opting out” hypothesis is that mothers are choosing to stay at home in greater numbers due to the stresses of living in two-earner families or making it in the labor market.
In this situation, the women’s choices can be made for the family’s well-being
Booth and van Ours (2005) investigates the impact of working part-time on women’s life satisfaction and of their partners
12
Objective of the paper
As a first step towards testing the hypothesized role of conflicting identities and of a return to traditional gender roles as factors contributing to the slowdown of the economic progress of women,
this paper evaluates the impact of gender role attitudes and work values on women’s labour market outcomes and fertility choices across OECD countries, comparing individual outcomes with country-specific ones.
13
Objective of the paper
More specifically, the empirical analysis focuses on the impact of attitudes towards gender roles, attitudes towards competition, and different aspects of work,
on, at the individual level, women’s employment decisions and part-status among working women.
on, at the country level, women’s employment rates total fertility rates gender pay gap.
14
Objective of the paper:Theoretical Perspectives
The analysis considers the effects of whether both men and women agree with the
traditional gender roles, following Becker’s (1985) model of the household division of labor
the identity conflict faced by working mothers, following Akerlof and Kranton (2000) model of identity
attitudes towards competition, following Becker’s (1971) model of employer discrimination
gender differences in work values and involvement in altruistic volunteering, extending Beckers’ model of limited to include altruistic amenities (Fortin, 2005).
social norms (average attitudes by country), following Akerlof’s (1980) model
15
Preview of the findings
Perceptions of men as the main breadwinners are found to display the strongest negative association with female employment rates and the gender pay gap.
However, these views are softening among recent cohorts.
Perceptions of women’s role as homemakers are more persistent over time. They could be implicated in the recent slowdown of the gender convergence in pay.
Finally, the unavoidable clash between family values and equalitarian views, that takes the form of an identity conflict for many women─ the so-called mother’s guilt─, is another obstacle in the path towards greater gender equality in the labour market.
16
Data
The paper uses three waves of the World Value Surveys (WVS): the 1990-93 and 1995-97 waves (ICPSR 2970), and 1999-2001 wave (ICPSR 3975), which also includes answers to the European Value Survey (EVS).
The coverage of societies/countries in the Values Studies has grown from 43 in the 1990 wave to 62 in the 1995 wave and 82 in the 2000 wave.
Because of the difficulty of finding comparable measures of the gender pay gap across countries, I limit my analysis to 24-26 OECD societies/countries.
17
WORLD VALUE SURVEYS:Questions on Gender Role Attitudes
Do you agree or disagree with the following statements? 1990-1997
1999-2001
Agree Neither Disagree DK
V128 V78 When jobs are scarce, men should have more right to a job than women
1 2 3 4
V129 When jobs are scarce, people should be forced to retire early
1 2 3 4
V130 V79 When jobs are scarce, employers should give priority to [BRITISH] people over immigrants
1 2 3 4
For each of the following statements I read out, can you tell me how much you agree with each. Do you agree strongly, agree, disagree, or disagree strongly? 1990-1997
1999-2001
Agree strongly
Agree Disagree Strongly disagree
DK
V113 One of my main goals in life has been to make my parents proud
1 2 3 4 9
V114 I make a lot of effort to live up to what my friends expect
1 2 3 4 9
V98 V115 A working mother can establish just as warm and secure a relationship with her children as a mother who does not work
1 2 3 4 9
V99 V116 Being a housewife is just as fulfilling as working for pay
1 2 3 4 9
V100 V117 Both the husband and wife should contribute to household income
1 2 3 4 9
V101 V118 On the whole, men make better political leaders than women do
1 2 3 4 9
V103 V119 A university education is more important for a boy than for a girl
1 2 3 4 9
18
WORLD VALUE SURVEYS:Questions on Work Values
Here are some more aspects of a job that people say are important. Please look at them and tell me which ones you personally think are important in a job? (CODE ALL MENTIONED)
1990-1997
1999-2001
MENTIONED
NOT MENTIONED
V75 V86 Good pay 1 2 V76 V87 Not too much pressure 1 2 V77 V88 Good job security 1 2 V78 V89 A job respected by people in general 1 2 V79 V90 Good hours 1 2 V80 V91 An opportunity to use initiative 1 2 V81 V92 Generous holidays 1 2 V82 V93 A job in which you feel you can achieve something 1 2 V83 V94 A responsible job 1 2 V84 V95 A job that is interesting 1 2 V85 V96 A job that meets one's abilities 1 2 EVS C024 A useful job to society 1 2 C025 Meeting people 1 2
V128 1990-97 V144 1999-2001
Competition is good. It Competition is harmful. It stimulates people to work hard brings out the worst in people and develop new ideas 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DK=99
19
WORLD VALUE SURVEYS:Questions on Volunteering
Please look carefully at the following list of voluntary organizations and activities and say... A) which, if any, do you belong to? (Code all `yes' answers as 1, if not mentioned code as 2) B) And for which, if any, are you currently doing unpaid voluntary work? [Code all `yes' answers as 1; if not mentioned code as 2]
1990-1997
1999-2001
Do voluntary work
Not Mentioned
Phil V35 V54 Social welfare services for elderly, handicapped or deprived people
1 2
Pers V28 V55 Religious or church organizations 1 2 Pers V30 V56 Education, arts, music or cultural activities 1 2 Lead V31 V57 Labor unions 1 2 Lead V32 V58 Political parties or groups 1 2 Phil V35 V59 Local community action on issues like poverty,
employment, housing, racial equality 1 2
Phil V35 V60 Third world development or human rights 1 2 Phil V33 V61 Conservation, environmental, animal rights groups 1 2 Lead V34 V62 Professional associations 1 2 Phil V36 V63 Youth work (scouts, guides, youth clubs, etc.) 1 2 Lead V29 V64 Sports or recreation 1 2 Phil V36 V65 Women’s groups 1 2 Phil V36 V66 Peace movement 1 2 Phil V36 V67 Voluntary organizations concerned with health 1 2
20
Countries selected They include the following countries, classified according to
the gender-sensitive typology of countries proposed by Siaroff (1994): Protestant social democratic states: Sweden, Finland,
Iceland, Norway and Denmark. Protestant liberal states: Australia, Canada, the United
Kingdom and the United States, with minimal family welfare but a relatively egalitarian labour market
Advanced Christian democratic states: Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands
Late female mobilization states: Greece, Ireland, Japan, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey, although Japan and Turkey are actually singletons.
Transition from communist regimes: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia.
21
Gender pay ratio and total fertility rates Data on the gender pay gap and total fertility rates for
these countries for periods corresponding roughly to the ones of the WVS were available from secondary sources, the OECD and Eurostat among others.
In view of important problems in finding figures for the raw gender pay ratio that are comparable across countries, I paid close attention to the methodologies used and supplemented data from reporting agencies with those from individual researchers.
As in other studies, there are substantial limits to comparability across countries.
22
Table A1. Women’s Employment Rates and Gender Earnings Ratio by Country
WVS Women’s Employment Gender Earnings
Country Rates (18-64 year olds) Ratio
No.
Country Acronym
WVS OECD Secondary Sources 1990- 1995- 1999- 2000 1990- 1995- 1999-
1993 1997 2001 (25-54) 1993 1997 2001
17 Australia AS ─ 69.8 ─ 66.8 0.80 0.83 0.84 42 Austria AT 57.3 ─ 73.9 73.5 0.68 0.79 0.80 7 Belgium BE 49.2 ─ 60.1 67.8 0.75 0.89 0.88
12 Canada CA 65.7 ─ 69.8 74.0 0.69 0.74 0.74 33 Czech Republic CZ 90.4 ─ 78.7 73.7 0.73 0.77 0.78 6 Denmark DK 79.6 ─ 86.7 80.5 0.83 0.86 0.86
23 Finland FI 82.2 64.0 75.1 77.6 0.75 0.83 0.82 1 France FR 53.9 ─ 61.8 69.6 0.75 0.81 0.88
87 Greece GR ─ ─ 71.4 52.6 0.79 0.79 0.80 16 Hungary HU 78.2 ─ 65.8 61.7 0.81 0.79 0.79 21 Iceland IS 74.8 ─ 79.9 87.4 0.87 0.84 0.84 9 Ireland IE 49.8 ─ 57.6 53.1 0.80 0.80 0.80 4 Italy IT 51.6 ─ 62.3 50.7 0.83 0.82 0.85
13 Japan JP 57.7 65.8 60.4 62.7 0.56 0.59 0.64 5 Netherlands NL 53.1 ─ 69.6 70.9 0.72 0.78 0.79
18 Norway NO 84.0 86.8 ─ 81.5 0.85 0.86 0.86 25 Poland PL 78.7 45.0 ─ 72.0 0.82 0.78 0.85 41 Portugal PT 67.8 ─ 57.6 73.9 0.71 0.74 0.74 85 Slovakia SK 95.6 ─ 77.6 64.8 0.66 0.78 0.79 8 Spain ES 37.5 35.0 44.5 50.6 0.72 0.79 0.86
19 Sweden SE 87.9 84.6 87.0 81.7 0.78 0.83 0.83 26 Switzerland CH 55.9 69.9 ─ 76.8 0.69 0.70 0.78 44 Turkey TK 18.7 25.7 17.2 ─ 0.60 0.65 0.78 11 United States US 71.9 68.1 75.4 74.1 0.73 0.76 0.78 2 United Kingdom UK 70.1 ─ 66.3 73.1 0.69 0.72 0.75 3 West Germany DEW 61.7 66.6 ─ 71.1 0.71 0.77 0.80
Unweighted
Average
65.6 61.1 69.8 66.6 0.74 0.78 0.81
23
Table A1 (continued). Total Fertility Rates by Country
WVS Total Fertility Rate Country
No.
Country Acronym
(OECD Social Indicators) 1990 1995 2000
17 Australia AS 1.91 1.85 1.75
42 Austria AT 1.45 1.4 1.34 7 Belgium BE 1.62 1.55 1.66
12 Canada CA 1.71 1.62 1.53 33 Czech Republic CZ 1.89 1.28 1.14 6 Denmark DK 1.67 1.8 1.77
23 Finland FI 1.78 1.81 1.73 1 France FR 1.78 1.7 1.88
87 Greece GR 1.39 1.32 1.29 16 Hungary HU 1.84 1.57 1.32 21 Iceland IS 2.3 2.08 2.08 9 Ireland IE 2.11 1.83 1.89 4 Italy IT 1.33 1.18 1.23
13 Japan JP 1.54 1.42 1.36 5 Netherlands NL 1.62 1.53 1.72
18 Norway NO 1.93 1.87 1.85 25 Poland PL 2.04 1.61 1.34 41 Portugal PT 1.57 1.4 1.55 85 Slovakia SK 2.09 1.52 1.29 8 Spain ES 1.36 1.18 1.24
19 Sweden SE 2.13 1.73 1.54 26 Switzerland CH 1.59 1.48 1.5 44 Turkey TK 2.93 2.62 2.57 11 United States US 2.08 2.02 2.06 2 United Kingdom UK 1.8 1.7 1.65 3 West Germany DEW 1.45 1.25 1.38
Unweighted Average
1.80 1.63 1.60
24
Descriptive StatisticsTable 1. Average Gender Role Attitudes and Work Values Across Birth Cohorts
Women Men
Birth Cohort:
<1935 1936-1945
1946 -1955
1956 -1965 >1965
<1935
1936-1945
1946 -1955
1956 -1965 >1965
Gender Role Attitudes: Scarce jobs should go to men first 0.36 0.32 0.23 0.20 0.15 0.38 0.32 0.26 0.23 0.21 Working mom warm with kids
0.66 0.75 0.80 0.79 0.80 0.59 0.67 0.71 0.71 0.73
Being a housewife fulfilling
0.69 0.65 0.58 0.58 0.57 0.72 0.67 0.63 0.61 0.63
Both should contribute income¹
0.79 0.80 0.81 0.77 0.82 0.82 0.75 0.76 0.74 0.78
Important Aspects of Job: Good pay 0.63 0.68 0.73 0.75 0.79 0.71 0.73 0.78 0.80 0.83 Good hours 0.47 0.49 0.53 0.57 0.59 0.44 0.42 0.46 0.49 0.54 Useful job to society² 0.57 0.46 0.44 0.40 0.40 0.28 0.39 0.42 0.37 0.38 Meeting people² 0.61 0.53 0.50 0.52 0.56 0.62 0.41 0.44 0.47 0.48 Competition OK 0.63 0.62 0.61 0.61 0.60 0.67 0.65 0.65 0.64 0.64 Number of children
Actual 2.91 2.60 2.30 2.00 1.11 2.77 2.48 2.25 1.86 0.76 Ideal 2.76 2.63 2.54 2.49 2.39 2.67 2.55 2.51 2.44 2.42
25
Empirical Strategy: The issue of causality
A difficult question is the issue of causality.
Despite efforts to address this issue, many of the results below should be more precisely referred to as partial correlations, rather than causal factors.
Were the women’s attitudes formed before their employment decisions, in their youth for example, or are these attitudes subsequent rationalizations to their previous labour market choices?
Do individual preferences dictate labour market choices or are individual choices are conditioned by country-specific social norms?
26
Empirical Strategy: The issue of causality
Remedies: Ex-post rationalization
Secondary evidence from panel survey data (Thornton, Alwin and Camburn, 1983; Kiecolt and Acok, 1988; Burt and Scott, 2002) claims that traditional gender role attitudes are linked to religious beliefs and developed in youth.
I also consider a sample of immigrant women; the effects of attitudes formed early in life in a sample of immigrant women will likely be different from those estimated from a sample of natives.
27
Empirical Strategy: The issue of causality
Remedies: Impact of social norms
Male country-specific average attitudes are used to capture societal influences.
Country-fixed effects capture country-specific other country-specific variables arising from institutional differences.
Robust standard errors clustered by country are used to adjust for differences in the variance of individual heterogeneity by country.
The regressions are also estimated on a sample of men to assess, as in Fernandez and Fogli (2005), whether the attitudes are not capturing some other economic factors, such as persistent unemployment.
28
Empirical Strategy: Individual-level Regressions
Let ictY denote the labour market outcome of woman i in country c at time t , here
employment and part-time work status. Assuming linear preferences, the individual
estimating equation takes the form
ictTCmctmictXictVictIictJictGict TCGXVIJGY 0 ,
where ictG are the gender roles attitudes,
ictJ work values,
ictI inner conflict variables,
ictV volunteering activities,
ictX are individual characteristics such as education, age, marital status, etc. and
where mctG are the average men’s gender role attitudes by country at time t,
C and T are countries and time dummies.
29
Empirical Strategy: The issue of causality
At the country-level, reverse causality is the problematic issue.
Are women’s employment rates lower in some countries because “the man as main breadwinner” is the norm and “scare jobs are given to men first,”
or have women’s low employment rates in some countries resulted in men being the sole provider for most families and thus getting priority for jobs?
30
Empirical Strategy: The issue of causality
Remedies: reverse causality
use lagged attitudes
include a measure of child care support used by Jaunotte (2003) (country fixed-effects saturates the model.)
use country-specific average male attitudes, which are less likely suffer from endogeneity problems.
31
Empirical Strategy: Country-level Regressions
The analysis seeks to explain whether country differences in women’s
employment rates and fertility rates can be accounted for by social norms, measured by
country-specific average gender role attitudes and work values:
ictcFictvictJctGct tFVJGY 0 ,
where cF denote some country-specific family policy, and t is a time trend.
I also explore the impact of gender role attitudes and work values on the gender
pay gap by country. Because the gender pay gap is a measure of the difference between
the average wages of men and women, the explanatory variables, in the spirit of the
Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, are also measured as gender differences:
ictcttGtctXctJctGct tGtXJGY 0 ,
where the operator denotes differences between male and female country averages, t
denotes a time trend, and where the interaction parameter tG captures the time effect of
changes in gender role attitudes.
32
Table 2. Determinants of Employment Status:Marginal Effects from a Probit Model
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
Sample: Women Immigrant
Women Men Gender role attitudes: Scarce jobs should go To men first
-0.068 (-5.82)
-0.049 (-2.65)
-0.075 (-7.49)
-0.222 (-4.57)
-0.007 (-0.95)
Working mom warm 0.147 0.129 0.138 0.129 0.129 with kids (7.58) (7.49) (10.08) (6.52) (1.02) Being a housewife -0.084 -0.078 -0.088 -0.141 -0.004 Fulfilling (-5.92) (-5.82) (-10.39) (-2.41) (-0.70) Both spouses should 0.103 contribute income (6.08) Important in a job: Good pay 0.029 0.022 0.005 0.048 0.036 (1.35) (1.39) (0.55) (0.50) (1.62) Good hours 0.022 -0.002 0.005 -0.060 0.011 (1.66) (-0.14) (0.51) (-0.86) (0.93) Useful to society -0.037 (-2.63) Meeting people 0.023 (1.71) Competition is OK 0.026 0.032 0.041 0.032 0.032 (1.21) (1.12) (2.89) (1.10) (2.81) Volunteer in organizations with leader building skills 0.125 0.077 0.127 0.274 0.040 (11.56) (3.67) (12.51) (3.34) (5.53) philanthropic -0.047 -0.047 -0.016 -0.025 -0.039 (-1.46) (-1.95) (-1.04) (-0.42) (-1.29) religious and cultural 0.005 -0.020 0.001 -0.025 0.018 (0.32) (-0.90) (0.01) (-0.46) (2.53) Men’s average gender role attitudes No No No Yes No No Chi-2 667.37 3477.8 713.06 7809.2 481.78 914.38 No. obs 24433 24433 6453 23286 362 21079 No. countries 26 26 15 26 8 26
Notes: The independent variable is a binary variable equal to 1 if the individual is employed and 0 otherwise. Age, education, marital status, time and country dummies included in all regressions. Z-values from robust clustering by country in parentheses.
33
Empirical Results: individual employment status
The absence of mother’s guilt is the dominant explanatory gender role attitude
The magnitude of the positive effect on employment status is comparable to upper secondary education, or half of tertiary education
Men as breadwinner and women as homemakers have significant negative effects
Leadership skills (from volunteering question) have also strong positive effects, especially for immigrant women
34
Table 3. Determinants of Incidence of Part-Time Work among Employees:Marginal Effects from a Probit Model
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Sample: Women Men
Gender role attitudes: Scarce jobs should go to men first
0.015 (0.89)
-0.014 (-0.49)
0.019 (1.11)
-0.001 (-0.29)
Working mom warm -0.028 -0.028 -0.027 -0.007 with kids (-2.36) (-1.45) (-2.59) (2.09) Being a housewife 0.033 0.012 0.034 -0.003 fulfilling (3.26) (1.32) (3.79) (-1.26) Both spouses should -0.051 contribute income (-3.15) Important in a job: Good pay -0.034 -0.027 -0.033 -0.009 (-3.53) (-1.35) (-3.29) (-2.34) Good hours 0.050 0.048 0.052 0.010 (5.26) (3.16) (5.31) (2.32) Useful to society -0.016 (-1.38) Meeting people -0.006 Competition is OK -0.054 -0.057 -0.055 -0.054 (-3.55) (-1.43) (-3.53) (-1.38) Volunteer in organizations with leader building skills -0.026 0.001 -0.028 -0.010 (-2.72) (0.06) (-2.80) (-2.39) philanthropic 0.014 0.028 0.022 0.002 (1.62) (1.41) (2.65) (0.54) religious and cultural 0.063 0.046 0.065 0.015 (4.90) (1.38) (5.02) (2.05) Men’s average gender role attitudes No No No Yes No
Chi-2 1104.11 477.14 174.26
822.5 3938.23 No. obs 15028 15028 4469 14756 18221 No. countries 26 26 15 26 26
Notes: Age, education, marital status, time and country dummies included in all regressions. Z-values in parentheses are from robust clustering by country.
35
Empirical Results: Part-time work status
The value or attitude with greatest statistical significance is “importance of good hours in a job” (positive effect)
Followed by “religious volunteering” (positive effect) “competition OK” (negative effect) “housewife fulfilling” (positive effect) “importance of good pay” (negative effect)
36
Figure 1 - Women's Employment Rate Across Countries
Wom
en's
Empl
oym
ent R
ate
a) Scarce Jobs Should Go to Men
.1 .3 .5
0
.25
.5
.75
1
FR
FR
UKUK
DEWDEW
IT
IT
NL
NL
DK
DK
BE
BE
ESES
ESIE
IE
USUS
US
CACA
JP
JPJP
HU
HUAS
NONOSE
SESE
ISIS FI
FI
FIPL
PL
PL
CH
CH
CZ
CZ
DE
DEPT
PT AT
AT
TK
TK
TK
SK
SK
GR
Wom
en's
Empl
oym
ent R
ate
b) Competition OK
.6 .7 .8
0
.25
.5
.75
1
FR
FR
UKUK
DEWDEW
IT
IT
NL
NL
DK
DK
BE
BE
ESES
ESIE
IE
USUS
US
CACA
JP
JPJP
HU
HUAS
NONO SE
SESE
ISISFI
FI
FIPL
PL
PL CH
CZ
CZ
DE
DEPT
PT AT
AT
TK
TK
TK
SK
SK
GR
Wom
en's
Empl
oym
ent R
ate
c) Being a Housewife Fulfilling
.3 .5 .7 .9
0
.25
.5
.75
1
FR
FR
UKUK
DEWDEW
IT
IT
NL
NL
DK
DK
BE
BE
ESES
ESIE
USUS
US
CACA
JP
JPJP
HU
HUAS
NONO SE
SESE
ISISFI
FI
FI
PL
PL
CZ
CZ
DE
DEPT
PT AT
TK
TK
TK
SK
SK
GR
Wom
en's
Empl
oym
ent R
ate
d) Volunteer in Leadership Org.
.1 .3 .5
0
.25
.5
.75
1
FR
FR
UKUK
DEWDEW
IT
IT
NL
NL
DK
DK
BE
BE
ESES
ESIE
IE
USUS
US
CACA
JP
JPJP
HU
HUAS
NONOSE
SESE
ISIS FI
FI
FIPL
PL
PL
CH
CH
CZ
CZ
DE
DEPT
PT AT
AT
TK
TK
TK
SK
SK
GR
37
Table 4a. Determinants of Women’s Employment Rates
Across Countries
l
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
Averages by country Women’s Men’s Women’s Women’s Gender role attitudes: Lagged2 Scarce jobs should go -0.764 -0.546 -0.498 -0.909 to men first (-4.17) (-3.25) (-2.41) (-5.86) Being a housewife -0.109 -0.232 -0.042 -0.204 fulfilling (-1.08) (-2.07) (-0.26) (-1.26) Competition is OK 0.493 0.893 0.471 0.304 (1.79) (2.74) (1.98) (0.74) Volunteer in organizations with leader building skills 0.371 0.195 0.347 0.054 (1.85) (1.35) (2.03) (0.21) religious and cultural -0.359 -0.347 -0.320 -0.261 (-1.55) (-1.41) (-1.60) (-1.26) Log of public expenditures 0.115 0.047 on child care1 (7.50) (2.38) Time trend -0.002 -0.006 0.000 0.004 0.000 0.007
(-0.40) (-1.58) (-0.09) (1.22) (0.00) (0.84)
Adjusted-R square 0.221 0.674 0.652 0.675 0.791 0.830
No. observations 50 50 50 42 42 21
No. countries 26 26 26 21 21 16
Notes: Women’s education level are included in all regressions. The women’s
employment rates by country are reported in Table A1. T-values in parentheses are from robust clustering by country.
38
Empirical Results: Women’s employment rates across Countries
Traditional gender role attitudes are negatively correlated with women’s employment rates.
“Scarce jobs should to the men first” is the only robustly significant explanatory gender role attitude (negative) It is stronger using lagged values Men’s attitudes still very significant Finding is similar to the finding of Azmat, Güell and
Manning (2004) regarding gender differences in unemployment rates.
Men’s “competition is OK” has a strong positive and significant effect, but only contemporaneously
39
Empirical Results: Women’s employment rates across countries
The effect of log expenditures on child care is cut by half when attitudes are included, This supports Algan and Cahuc (2004)’s claim that the
effect of policy variables may be over-estimated when values given rise to them are not controlled for
40
Empirical Results: Fertility rates across countries
Starting in the 1960s the massive entry of women in the labour market was coupled with a fall in fertility rates, which seems to have bottomed out in some high FLP countries.
The cross-sectional relationship between total fertility rates and women’s employment rates was negative in the 1970s and up to the early 1980s, but became positive in the late 1980s (Ahn and Mira, 2002).
The emergence of high and persistent unemployment rates has been suggested as an explanation for the reversal in the relationship (Adsera, 2005).
In the presence of high unemployment and unstable contracts, women postpone childbearing to increase lifetime income through early skill acquisition and minimize unemployment risk.
41
Total Fertility Rates across Countries
FR UK
DEWIT
NL DKBE
ES
IE US
CAJP
HUNO
SEIS
FI
PTAT
DEWES
US
JP
AS NOSE
FI
FR
UK
IT
NL DKBE
ES
US
CAJP HU
SE
IS
FI
PL
CZ
PT
SKGR
FRFR
UKUK
DEW
DEWIT
IT
NLNL DK
DKBE BE
ESES ES
IE USUS US
CACAJP
JPJP
HU
HU
ASNONO
SE
SESE
IS
IS
FIFIFI
PL
CZ
PTPTAT
SKGR
11.
52
2.5
11.
52
2.5
.4 .6 .8 1 .4 .6 .8 1
1990 1995
1999 Total
Total Fertility Rates Fitted values
Women's Employment Rates
Graphs by year
42
Table 4b. Determinants of Total Fertility Rates Across Countries
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
Women's Employment 0.827 0.680 0.666 Rates (3.29) (2.36) (2.26)
Averages by country Women’s Men's Women’s Men'sGender role attitudes:Scarce jobs should go -1.188 -1.149 -0.569 -0.684to men first (-3.04) (-3.29) (-1.38) (-1.88)Being a housewife 0.791 0.777 0.877 0.860fulfilling (3.04) (2.46) (3.81) (3.02)
Women’s Education (primary omitted) Secondary 0.384 0.220 0.284 0.245 0.109 0.164
(1.35) (0.77) (0.93) (0.99) (0.48) (0.71) Upper secondary -0.367 -0.754 -0.716 -0.576 -0.979 -0.960
(-1.12) (-2.25) (-1.97) (-2.14) -(4.55) -(4.14) Tertiary 1.097 0.600 0.579 0.792 0.544 0.506
(3.48) (2.16) (1.79) (2.71) (2.24) (1.93)Time -0.014 -0.020 -0.022 -0.015 -0.014 -0.018
(-1.67) (-2.32) (-2.79) (-2.23) (-1.98) -(2.67)
0.482 0.626 0.593No. observations 46 46 46 46 46 46No. countries 24 24 24 24 24 24
Notes: The women’s total fertility rates by country are reported in Table A1. T-values in parentheses are from robust clustering by country.
Adjusted-R square 0.374 0.568 0.545
43
Empirical Results: Fertility rates across countries
When gender role attitudes are included as explanatory variables, fertility rates are shown to depend on employment rates rather than the opposite “being a housewife fulfilling” has a significant positive
impact on fertility
This effect is similar when Women’s attitudes are included (identity story) Men’s attitudes are included (social norms story)
Combined with the positive effect of women’s employment
rates on fertility indicates that “balancing work and family” is a central concern in fertility decisions.
44
Figure 2 - Gender Pay Gap Across Countries
Gen
der P
ay G
ap
a) Higher Education Gap
-.1 0 .1 .2 .3
.1
.2
.3
.4
.5
FR
FR
UK
UK
DEW
DEW
IT
IT
NL
NL
DK
DK
BE
BE
ES
ES
ES
IEIE
US
USUS
CA
CA
JP
JP
JP
HU
NONO
SE
SESE
IS
IS
FI
FIFI PL
PL
PL
CHCH
CZ
PT
AT
AT
TK
TK
TKSK
GR
Gen
der P
ay G
ap
b) Gap: Scarce Jobs Should Go to Men
-.05 0 .05 .1 .15
.1
.2
.3
.4
.5
FR
FR
UK
UK
DEW
DEW
IT
IT
NL
NL
DK
DK
BE
BE
ES
ES
ES
IEIE
US
USUS
CA
CA
JP
JP
JP
HU
NONO
SE
SESE
IS
IS
FI
FIFIPL
PL
PL
CH CH
CZ
PT
AT
AT
TK
TK
TKSK
GR
Gen
der P
ay G
ap
c) Gap: Being a Housewife Fulfilling
-.05 0 .05 .1 .15
.1
.2
.3
.4
.5
FR
FR
UK
UK
DEW
DEW
IT
IT
NL
NL
DK
DK
BE
BE
ES
ES
ES
IE
US
USUS
CA
CA
JP
JP
JP
HU
NONO
SE
SE SE
IS
IS
FI
FIFI
PL
PL
CZ
PT
AT
TK
TK
TKSK
GR
Gen
der P
ay G
ap
d) Gap: Good Hours
-.15 -.1 -.05 0 .05
.1
.2
.3
.4
.5
FR
FR
UK
UK
DEW
DEW
IT
IT
NL
NL
DK
DK
BE
BE
ES
ES
ES
IE IE
US
USUS
CA
CA
JP
JP
JP
HU
NONO
SE
SE SE
IS
IS
FI
FIFI
PL
PL
CH
CZ
PT
AT
AT
TK
TK
TKSK
GR
45
Table 5. Determinants of the Gender Pay Gap across Countries
Gender Gap in Mean (1) (2) (3) (4)
Tertiary education 0.034 0.568 0.544 0.486 0.518 (4.65) (4.56) (4.21) (4.93) Gender role attitudes: Scarce jobs should go 0.402 0.410 0.436 to men first
0.029
(3.17) (3.24) (3.33) Being a housewife 0.041 -0.313 -0.254 -0.694
fulfilling (-1.93) (-1.44) (-1.97) Important in a job: Good hours -0.066 -0.220 -0.211 (-1.31) (-1.28) Time Trend -0.004 -0.003 -0.004 -0.006 (-2.10) (-1.33) (-1.62) (-3.07) Time Trend*Being 0.069 a housewife fulfilling (1.80) Adjusted R-square 0.518 0.553 0.557 0.580
Notes: The dependent variable is the logarithm of 1 minus the gender pay
ratios displayed in table A1; its means is equal to 0.227. The explanatory variables are the country-specific male averages minus the female averages of each variable. There are 45 observations and 24 countries. T-values in parentheses are from robust clustering by country.
46
Figure 3 - Gender Pay Gap Across Countries
Gen
der P
ay G
ap
a) Gap: Scarce Jobs Should Go to Men
-.05 0 .05 .1 .15
.1
.2
.3
.4
.5
FR
FR
UK
UK
DEW
DEW
IT
IT
NL
NL
DK
DK
BE
BE
ES
ES
ES
IEIE
US
USUS
CA
CA
JP
JP
JP
HU
NONO
SE
SESE
IS
IS
FI
FIFIPL
PL
PL
CH CH
CZ
PT
AT
AT
TK
TK
TKSK
GR
Gen
der P
ay G
ap
b) Gap: Being a Housewife Fulfilling
-.1 -.05 0 .05 .1 .15
.1
.2
.3
.4
.5
FR
FR
UK
UK
DEW
DEW
IT
IT
NL
NL
DK
DK
BE
BE
ES
ES
ES
IE
US
USUS
CA
CA
JP
JP
JP
HU
NONO
SE
SE SE
IS
IS
FI
FIFI
PL
PL
CZ
PT
AT
TK
TK
TKSK
GR
Gen
der P
ay G
ap
c) Higher Education Gap
-.1 0 .1 .2 .3
.1
.2
.3
.4
.5
FR
FR
UK
UK
DEW
DEW
IT
IT
NL
NL
DK
DK
BE
BE
ES
ES
ES
IEIE
US
USUS
CA
CA
JP
JP
JP
HU
NONO
SE
SESE
IS
IS
FI
FIFI PL
PL
PL
CHCH
CZ
PT
AT
AT
TK
TK
TKSK
GR
Gen
der P
ay G
ap
d) Gap: Religious Volunteering
-.15 -.1 -.05 0 .05
.1
.2
.3
.4
.5
FR
FR
UK
UK
DEW
DEW
IT
IT
NL
NL
DK
DK
BE
BE
ES
ES
ES
IEIE
US
USUS
CA
CA
JP
JP
JP
HU
NONO
SE
SE SE
IS
IS
FI
FIFI PL
PL
PL
CHCH
CZ
PT
AT
AT
TK
TK
TKSK
GR
47
Conclusion
The identity conflict faced by working mothers has implications for both their labour market decisions and their fertility decisions The role of firms and the state in facilitating the work-
life balance of the family may be helpful (flexible work hours, affordable day-care, etc)
Traditional gender roles attitudes (social norms) continue to play a role in women’s labour market outcomes.
48
Future research
Incorporate measures of life-satisfaction to assess the importance of the identity conflict of working mothers
Perform the analysis with completed fertility to address to issue of cohort effects and the “opting-out” hypothesis
49
Table A2. Average (over Time) Gender Role Attitudes and Work Values by Country
Women Men Country Gender Role Attitudes Work Values Gender Role Attitudes Work Values
Scarce Working House- Both Good Good Useful Comp Scarce Working House- Both Good Good Useful Comp jobs mom wife income pay hours job
People
OK jobs mom wife income pay hours job
People
OK
Australia 0.20 0.77 0.67 0.63 0.58 0.40 ─ ─ 0.77 0.22 0.65 0.68 0.65 0.70 0.32 ─ ─ 0.79 Austria 0.31 0.57 0.59 ─ 0.60 0.46 0.35 0.53 0.77 0.34 0.47 0.59 ─ 0.70 0.36 0.34 0.42 0.80 Belgium 0.29 0.80 0.58 0.75 0.67 0.46 0.39 0.58 0.64 0.26 0.75 0.67 0.63 0.77 0.39 0.39 0.50 0.66 Canada 0.14 0.80 0.73 0.75 0.75 0.54 ─ ─ 0.75 0.12 0.72 0.75 0.75 0.79 0.48 ─ ─ 0.78 Czech Republic
0.32 0.75 0.49 0.93 0.79 0.49 0.34 0.42 0.81 0.37 0.64 0.56 0.90 0.83 0.42 0.26 0.30 0.84
Denmark 0.06 0.87 0.53 0.67 0.50 0.38 0.25 0.52 0.66 0.04 0.85 0.53 0.66 0.68 0.31 0.23 0.42 0.75 Finland 0.09 0.97 0.67 0.76 0.65 0.44 0.28 0.46 0.71 0.13 0.92 0.69 0.73 0.69 0.39 0.29 0.39 0.74 France 0.26 0.78 0.56 0.78 0.61 0.35 0.29 0.53 0.65 0.25 0.78 0.58 0.79 0.62 0.33 0.30 0.39 0.65 Greece 0.15 0.80 0.35 0.90 0.90 0.54 0.53 0.53 0.67 0.29 0.70 0.54 0.85 0.89 0.48 0.48 0.49 0.67 Hungary 0.28 0.78 0.60 0.89 0.91 0.77 0.82 0.78 0.74 0.29 0.71 0.69 0.87 0.93 0.72 0.77 0.75 0.75 Iceland 0.04 0.91 0.64 0.65 0.85 0.66 0.42 0.57 0.82 0.05 0.81 0.68 0.58 0.89 0.59 0.45 0.51 0.83 Ireland 0.20 0.70 0.67 ─ 0.80 0.55 0.37 0.56 0.70 0.22 0.63 0.69 ─ 0.83 0.52 0.38 0.48 0.74 Italy 0.30 0.71 0.47 0.84 0.77 0.55 0.65 0.68 0.65 0.31 0.62 0.56 0.77 0.81 0.50 0.63 0.66 0.70 Japan 0.26 0.95 0.85 0.61 0.86 0.77 ─ ─ 0.63 0.30 0.89 0.87 0.53 0.85 0.62 ─ ─ 0.69 Netherlands 0.15 0.83 0.49 0.43 0.68 0.46 0.36 0.68 0.63 0.13 0.74 0.52 0.33 0.79 0.36 0.37 0.59 0.66 Norway 0.10 0.80 0.54 0.79 0.55 0.40 ─ ─ 0.74 0.13 0.64 0.56 0.79 0.68 0.34 ─ ─ 0.80 Poland 0.36 0.60 0.49 0.91 0.77 0.51 0.44 0.48 0.71 0.41 0.49 0.63 0.90 0.79 0.47 0.43 0.50 0.73 Portugal 0.28 0.78 0.44 0.92 0.80 0.60 0.54 0.43 0.66 0.30 0.70 0.51 0.86 0.79 0.47 0.44 0.33 0.67 Slovakia 0.36 0.73 0.50 0.89 0.88 0.60 0.27 0.29 0.76 0.42 0.64 0.56 0.89 0.90 0.51 0.20 0.20 0.78 Spain 0.22 0.74 0.55 0.92 0.77 0.47 0.44 0.40 0.65 0.22 0.73 0.59 0.88 0.79 0.47 0.42 0.38 0.68 Sweden 0.05 0.86 0.57 0.90 0.62 0.53 0.27 0.48 0.75 0.04 0.71 0.59 0.89 0.72 0.45 0.22 0.46 0.79 Switzerland 0.10 ─ ─ ─ 0.60 0.45 ─ ─ 0.76 0.14 ─ ─ ─ 0.74 0.38 ─ ─ 0.80 Turkey 0.50 0.60 0.76 0.94 0.92 0.89 0.97 0.88 0.68 0.64 0.55 0.80 0.81 0.92 0.87 0.98 0.88 0.75 United States 0.12 0.83 0.76 0.72 0.86 0.63 ─ ─ 0.75 0.15 0.73 0.76 0.78 0.90 0.56 ─ ─ 0.79 United Kingdom
0.19 0.78 0.59 0.66 0.75 0.53 0.29 0.48 0.68 0.24 0.71 0.54 0.67 0.83 0.44 0.27 0.36 0.72
West Germany 0.18 0.67 0.43 0.77 0.68 0.46 ─ ─ 0.73 0.25 0.49 0.48 0.76 0.74 0.39 ─ ─ 0.77
Source: Proportions of respondents computed from 1990-93, 1995-97 (ICPSR 2790) and 1999-01 World Value Surveys (ICPSR 3975). Individuals aged 18-64 excluding
students and retirees. The gender role attitudes and work values are as in Table 1. With approximately 1000 respondents per country, the 90% confidence intervals of a proportion of 0.50 would be around 0.025