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