1 Introduction
The dramatic change in women’s identities and their roles in family and
society led to a substantial increase in the share of women in the
workforce, which was the most significant change in labour markets
during the past century. The changing role of women in the economy
and society has major long-term consequences for individual choices
(education, fertility, work and career) and firms’ decisions (hiring and
promotions). Culture and attitudes crucially shape the ongoing process, while they are challenged by the increasing participation of
women in the workforce and decision-making processes. Public policies are continuously being adjusted as governments are asked to take
action to meet the new needs and change accordingly.
Goldin (2006) uses the words ‘quiet revolution’ to characterize the
emergence of a new economic role for women in the past century.
Women shifted from being static passive actors, who took the income
and time allocation of other family members as a given, to becoming
active participants, who bargain in the household and in the labour
market. They stopped being ‘secondary workers’, who accepted their
husbands’ labour market decisions as given to them and now make
their labour force decisions jointly with their partners. Their labour
market decisions are strictly linked to a change in human capital
investment and have become part of a new long-term horizon: investment in education is the first step to perceiving that their lifetime labour
force involvement will be long and continuous rather than brief and
intermittent. Finally, women have moved from being agents who work
because they and their families ‘need the money’ to those who are
employed, at least in part, because occupation and employment define
their fundamental identity, profession and career. The formation of
identity occurs before, rather than after, marriage.
Despite this continuous evolution, economic gender gaps appear to
be persistent and difficult to eliminate (see Chapter 2). The quiet
revolution, which Goldin defines with reference to the United States,
1
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2
Introduction
is still ongoing in many parts of the world. In Europe, while gender gaps
in educational attainments have nearly disappeared in most countries,
the quiet revolution lags behind, especially in the Mediterranean area,
where substantial differences still exist in the participation of men and
women in the labour force. The ‘glass ceiling’ – the invisible barriers
that prevent women from reaching upper-level positions – is still
a dominant phenomenon worldwide. The World Economic Forum
calculates that economic gender gaps have been reduced by only
2.5 per cent since 2006 and claims that without substantial changes,
it will take another 202 years before such gaps vanish (WEF, 2018).
However, academic researchers, international organizations and policymakers agree that gender equality has beneficial effects for the
economy and society (Duflo, 2012; IMF, 2016). The 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development launched by the United Nations and
adopted in 2015 includes the following fundamental goal: to ‘achieve
gender equality and empower all women and girls’. Gender equality
has attracted much attention in Europe: the Manual for Gender
Mainstreaming, Social Inclusion and Social Protection policies, published by the European Commission in 2007, maintains that ‘Gender
equality is a fundamental right, a common value of the EU, and
a necessary condition for the achievement of the EU objectives of
growth, employment and social cohesion.’
Public policy is advocated as a tool for accelerating progress towards
gender equality. It includes childcare; maternity, paternity and parental
leave; fiscal policies; affirmative action and gender quotas; labour
market interventions; pension design; and flexible work arrangements
(agile working, i.e. flexibility of time and space). In a continuously
changing context, public policies are under pressure: they reflect the
change in women’s roles and their increasing empowerment and leadership in the decision-making process, and they face the challenge of
redesigning adequate and sustainable institutions to address these
major changes (Del Boca and Wetzels, 2001; Olivetti and Petrongolo,
2017). The role of public policy in connection with gender equality is
an intense and dominant topic, particularly for European countries and
in the European agenda. A crucial issue when addressing the role of
public policies in connection with gender equality is whether gender
gaps depend on nature – they have biological roots; on nurture – they
are the outcomes of environmental influences or on both. If gender gaps
depend on biological differences, then it is difficult to imagine how
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Introduction
3
policies can play a relevant role in reducing them. If, instead, as many
studies suggest, the cultural and societal contexts in which economic
agents make their choices also matter, then institutions can play a more
fundamental role.
The relationship between gender equality and public policy needs
a thorough investigation. On the one hand, policies have a clear impact
on gender gaps, particularly those related to motherhood and the
labour market (Del Boca et al., 2009). Family policies or affirmative
action may have a substantial effect on women’s economic opportunities and thus on gender equality. I refer to this as the ‘public economics’ side of the relationship between gender equality and public policy.
A clear example is childcare (i.e. provision of services and public daycar centers to children) a public policy that supports women’s participation in the labour market, thus promoting gender equality.
On the other hand, women as economic agents may themselves have
an impact on policies: this is the ‘political economy’ side of the relationship. A clear example is municipalities that randomly happen to be led
by female mayors, who spend more resources on public policies (e.g.
childcare) that contribute to reducing gender gaps. We expect the
changing role of women in families and societies and their higher
representation in decision-making positions to contribute to focusing
and redirecting the policy agenda towards items that better correspond
to women’s needs (Chattopadhyay and Duflo, 2004) or preferences
(Funk and Gathmann, 2015) with the final goal of reducing gender
gaps.
Although several contributions to the literature of different disciplines, ranging from economics to sociology, political science, public
policy and management, help describe the complex nature and main
elements of the twofold relationship between gender and public policy,
this has not been at the centre of research on gender thus far. The two
sides of the relationship between gender equality and public policy have
mostly been investigated separately. Their interactions and feedback
effects have remained mainly unidentified. However, both public and
political elements are at work in the gender and public policy relationship, and they both play an important role in the dynamic process of
gender equality.
The public economics side of the relationship, that is, how public
policies affect or reduce gender gaps, is present in the labour and public
economics literature (see Chapter 3). Cross-country regressions are
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Introduction
used to show that policies such as childcare, maternity leave, taxation
design and labour market measures are related to gender equality.
Micro-level analyses provide more careful assessments of the relationship, but they must limit their focus to a specific policy in a specific
country. A major challenge for these analyses is to incorporate the role
of policies into contexts in which cultural and historical determinants
are a crucial component of gender gaps and their persistence.
The political economy side of the relationship, moving from gender
equality and women’s empowerment to public policies, is less investigated than the public economics side, though research in this area is
increasing (see Chapter 4). Traditionally, research attempting to
assess the causal role of women in setting the policy agenda and the
consequent effects on economic outcomes has been concentrated on
developing countries (see e.g. Chattopadhyay and Duflo, 2004 and
Clots-Figueras, 2011, for India; Brollo and Troiano, 2016, for
Brazil). For high-income countries, the political economy side of the
relationship consists of scant and inconclusive evidence. Among others,
Funk and Gathman (2015) find that women in Switzerland invest more
in health and environmental issues, while Ferreira and Gyourko (2014)
find no effects of the gender of local US politicians on the allocation of
public expenditures. In parallel, gender equality matters in the business
context: the presence of women in decision-making positions in firms
may influence the firms’ outcomes, such as profits, returns on equity
and investment, assets, sustainability scores, international results such
as openness to exports or international trade, and labour market
policies such as recruiting and promotion (see Chapter 5).
Research on both sides of the relationship suffers from the major
problem of endogeneity – understanding the causal effect between
public policy and gender equality and between women’s representation
in decision-making positions and policy outcomes; disentangling the
two sides is difficult. For instance, if we observe that countries with
higher childcare expenditures have higher female labour force participation, can we conclude that childcare leads to gender equality? It
could be the case that countries where more women work give more
importance to childcare expenditure (reverse causality problem) or that
both childcare and gender equality measures are driven by cultural or
historical determinants (omitted variable bias). Similarly, if we observe
a positive correlation between female mayors and higher local public
expenditures on childcare, is the reason that women as policymakers
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Introduction
5
invest more in childcare or that a larger amount of this expenditure
helps women’s work and empowerment and thus the likelihood that
women become mayors? Or is the reason that both the composition of
public spending and women’s representation in decision-making are
determined by different external drivers, such as culture or family
background?
Recent developments in data analysis and methods of policy evaluations (see the Appendix) are useful for assessing causality and not
confounding it with correlation. The availability of microdata and
large datasets with detailed information on individual characteristics,
intentions and behaviours makes it possible to use new and more
precise techniques to identify causal relationships, including fixed
effects panel data estimations, instrumental variables, difference-indifference evaluation designs, difference-in-discontinuities and regression discontinuity analysis. Moreover, the development of psychological economics and behavioural science and the use in social sciences of
experiments based on randomized trials also contribute to this direction. Indeed, experiments help understand the nature and nurture
aspects and their interplay at the origin of gender gaps and the related
role of policies. An additional opportunity is provided by the recent
availability of historical data and large historical datasets, which, by
making possible the measurement of initial conditions in the past, are
useful for understanding the direction of the relationship between
gender and public policy. Finally, it has been recognized that one of
the most useful contexts for assessing the causal impact of women’s
empowerment on policies is one in which women hold decision-making
positions independently of the policies that they support. This is the
case, for example, with gender quotas, which impose higher female
representation by law. Here, we can appropriately address how women
in decision-making positions affect policies. This evidence, in turn,
provides the rationale for policies promoting gender balance in decision-making. However, there may be instances in which gender does
not matter in economic decisions and economic outcomes, thus limiting the role of policies designed to reduce gender gaps.
Understanding the twofold relationship between gender and public
policy is crucial in our rapidly changing world. Demographic, socioeconomic and technological changes can be both a risk and an opportunity for progress towards gender equality. The design of appropriate
public policies is fundamental for turning these changes into
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6
Introduction
opportunities to develop a sustainable growing economy and society
that will improve gender equality even further (Chapter 6). We need,
for example, to understand how the process of obtaining gender equality interacts with public policies to design measures that address demographic changes such as the ageing of the population and massive
migration flows. Similarly, if women matter to economic outcomes
and firms’ performance, gender policies may play an important role
in promoting sustainable economic growth in the context of modest
growth and increasing inequality.
In spite of the previously described recent methodological developments, which allow us to better deal with causality concerns, the two
sides of the research – public economics and political economics – have
not thus far been explored as a central question in research on gender
and public policy. Still lacking are a unified perspective and
a comprehensive framework to take into account both the public
economics and the political economics aspects of the relationship
between gender and public policy while also exploring interactions
and feedback effects. This book aims to fill the gap and provide such
a comprehensive framework.
The book will answer the following fundamental questions: How
does public policy affect gender equality? Which policies matter, and
what is the mechanism that allows policy to influence women’s involvement in the economy? Which policies are more effective? Once
women are enrolled in decision-making positions in organizations,
governments and companies (mainly due to the introduction of gender
policies), how do they influence public policies? Do they support policies that favour female employment and gender equality, thus giving
rise to a reinforcing mechanism that will increase the presence of
women in the future? Do they influence broader policies, for example,
by integrating gender concerns into them? Is there evidence of additional contributions or spillover effects of women’s empowerment in
the economic context?
To answer these questions, the book provides a comprehensive and
in-depth examination of gender gaps, public policies and economic
outcomes. It provides evidence on the dynamics of gender equality in
connection to public policy. It delivers a stimulating picture of the
status of women in setting a new agenda for the future, sustaining the
success of the gender ‘revolution’ and contributing to a broader perspective – with gender equality as a fundamental value – when
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108525886.002 Published online by Cambridge University Press
1.1 Notes on the Approach Developed in the Book
7
addressing economic policy. Finally, it provides new insights into how
to interpret the major global challenges of our modern societies, such as
ageing, globalization and technological changes, as opportunities for
a more gender-balanced society. At the end of this journey, we will
understand how public policies are a driving force for gender equality
and how women in decision-making positions can make a difference in
current and future economies.
1.1 Notes on the Approach Developed in the Book
It is important to clarify some limitations of the book. First, gender
studies is a broad and continuously growing field that covers several
disciplines. It would be impossible, and it is beyond the scope of this
book, to consider all contributions and to cover all aspects. The book
develops its own perspective on the study of gender and public
policy, which is centred on the twofold relationship between gender
and public policy. As already explained, the approach developed in
this book is at the intersection of public economics and political
economics. Pure labour economics studies, for example, those
focused on measuring wage gaps, which represent an extensive part
of the literature on gender economics, will not be covered. However,
several interesting analyses related to this perspective, though clearly
belonging to disciplines other than economics – such as demography,
sociology, political science or management – will be taken into
account.
Second, the book focuses on developed economies, mainly OECD
countries and pays particular attention to Europe. Thus, apart from
some notable exceptions that are useful for understanding the gender
dynamics in which I am interested, the book will not cover the large
number of studies related to gender in development economics.
Regarding developed economies, the book focuses in several ways on
Europe, an interesting laboratory of analysis with substantial activism
in policies to promote gender equality. Compared to the US, Europe
has been more open to policy intervention. The target of gender equality represents a fundamental pillar of the global European view, and
gender equality and public policies are intertwined in different
European contexts (including in new EU member countries).
Moreover, the recent experiences of European countries have made
them an important laboratory of analysis and a source of inspiration
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Introduction
for other countries, including the United States, in terms of implementing policies to promote gender equality.
Finally, this book identifies gender equality with equality between
men and women, although I am aware that the concept of ‘gender’ is
not exclusively represented by the man-versus-woman categorization.
1.2 Organization of the Book
The book is organized in chapters. Each chapter has its own subject and
can be read separately. The message of the book is, however, unitary
and is centred on the complex double relationship between gender and
public policy. This view can be fully captured by reading the entire
book.
The chapters are organized as follows. Chapter 2 presents data and
facts that provide a scenario of gender gaps along the three main
dimensions of education, the labour market and politics and the main
trends across countries and over time. It also explains the main determinants of gender gaps in the labour market. A crucial role in determining gender gaps is played by public policies, which are at the centre
of the next analysis. Chapter 3 concentrates on the relationship
between public policy and gender equality and discusses what policies
may support gender equality, including maternity, paternity and parental leave; childcare; taxation; and measures in the labour market.
Chapters 4 and 5 move the analysis to the relationship between women
and outcomes: Chapter 4 addresses how the presence of women in
policy-making positions affects public policy, examining policies
designed to improve gender equality and more general outcomes,
while Chapter 5 concentrates on the business context and analyzes
how the presence of women in firms’ top positions may influence
firms’ outcomes. Chapter 6 introduces the role of global challenges –
classified as demographic, economic and technological changes – in the
relationship between women, public policy and economic outcomes.
Chapter 7 concludes the book. The Appendix contains a brief ad hoc
explanation of the methodological tools used in the analysis contained
in the book.
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108525886.002 Published online by Cambridge University Press