Abstract
We study the effect of parenting daughters on attitudes towards gender norms in the UK; specifically, attitudes towards the traditional male breadwinner norm in which it is the husband’s ...role to work and the wife’s to stay at home. We find robust evidence that rearing daughters decreases fathers’ likelihood to hold traditional attitudes. This result is driven by fathers of school-aged daughters, for whom the effects are robust to the inclusion of individual fixed effects. Our estimates suggest that fathers’ probability to support traditional gender norms declines by approximately 3%age points (8%) when parenting primary school-aged daughters and by 4%age points (11%) when parenting secondary school-aged daughters. The effect on mothers’ attitudes is generally not statistically significant. These findings are consistent with exposure and identity theories. We conclude that gender norm attitudes are not stable throughout the life-course and can significantly be shaped by adulthood experiences.
We study whether the experience of ‘employment during motherhood’ (EDM) exerts an effect on attitudes towards the welfare effects of EDM, which proxy gender norms with regards to employment. We ...examine unique evidence from a large, representative, and longitudinal data set that collects attitudinal data over about a decade in the United Kingdom. We draw on an instrumental variable (IV) strategy that exploits variation in local labour markets using a Bartik instrument for employment to address the potential endogeneity of EDM experience in explaining attitudes. We find that both childless women who work and mothers who do not work are more likely to agree with the statement that 'pre-school children suffer if their mothers work', which we interpret as more traditional gender values. However, this is not the case for women who work and have children. These findings suggest that motherhood confirms individuals' priors, and suggest that EDM is a value preserving rather than a value changing experience. These results suggest that the so-called ‘motherhood penalty’ in employment trajectories cannot be fully explained by a change in attitudes after giving birth.
•We study whether the experience of employment during motherhood affects attitudes towards gender norms.•We find that childless women who work and mothers who do not work are more likely to hold more traditional views.•However, this is not the case when women experience both working and motherhood.•These results suggest that motherhood for working women confirm individuals’ priors,•The so-called ‘motherhood penalty’ cannot be fully explained by a change in attitudes after giving birth.
Association agreements are developed under the assumption that institution-building can impact on economic exchange, and ultimately trigger economic integration.
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