The Impact of Gender Role Attitudes on
Women's Fertility Choices and Labour Market
Outcomes Across OECD Countries
By Nicole M. Fortin
Department of Economics
University of British Columbia
September 2006
CIAR - Social Interactions, Identity and Well-Being
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.
2
 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%
0.8
Hourly Wage
0.75
Age 25-54
0.7
Age 16-64
0.65
Annual Earnings
Age 25-54
Age 16-64
0.6
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
Figure 1. Female/Male Median Earnings Ratio in Canada
Source: Fortin and Schirle (2006) – SCF data
1997
3
 In Fortin and Schirle (2006), we find that female labour
force participation has stabilized since the early 1990s
0.95
male age 25-54
0.85
male age 16-64
0.75
female age 25-54
0.65
female age 16-64
0.55
0.45
0.35
1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
Figure 2. Male and Female Labour Force Participation by Age Group in Canada
Source: Fortin and Schirle (2006) – SCF data
4
■ Bernstein (EPI, 2005) presents a similar view of the US
gender pay ratio.
5
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.
6
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
7
Changes in Labour Force Participation by Birth-Cohort
Source: Bailey (2006) for the United States
8
Changes in Labour Force Participation by Birth-Cohort
Source: Schirle (2006)
9
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”
10
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
11
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.
12
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.



13
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
14
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.
15
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.
16
WORLD VALUE SURVEYS:
Questions on Gender Role Attitudes
Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
1990- 19991997
2001
V128 V78 When jobs are scarce, men should have more
right to a job than women
V129
When jobs are scarce, people
should be forced to retire early
V130 V79 When jobs are scarce, employers should give
priority to [BRITISH] people over immigrants
Agree
Neither
Disagree
DK
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
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- 1999Agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
1997
2001
strongly
disagree
V113 One of my main goals in life has been to
1
2
3
4
make my parents proud
V114 I make a lot of effort to live up to what my
1
2
3
4
friends expect
V98
V115 A working mother can establish just as
1
2
3
4
warm and secure a relationship with her
children as a mother who does not work
V99
V116 Being a housewife is just as
1
2
3
4
fulfilling as working for pay
V100 V117 Both the husband and wife should
1
2
3
4
contribute to household income
V101 V118 On the whole, men make better political
1
2
3
4
leaders than women do
V103 V119 A university education is more important
1
2
3
4
for a boy than for a girl
DK
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
17
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)
19901999NOT
1997
2001
MENTIONED
MENTIONED
V86
Good pay
1
2
V75
V87
Not too much pressure
1
2
V76
V88
Good job security
1
2
V77
V89
A job respected by people in general
1
2
V78
V90
Good hours
1
2
V79
V91
An
opportunity
to
use
initiative
1
2
V80
V92
Generous holidays
1
2
V81
V93
A job in which you feel you can achieve something
1
2
V82
V94
A responsible job
1
2
V83
V95
A job that is interesting
1
2
V84
V96
A job that meets one's abilities
1
2
V85
EVS
C024
A useful job to society
1
2
C025
Meeting people
1
2
V128 1990-97 V144 1999-2001
Competition is good. It
stimulates people to work hard
and develop new ideas
1
2
3
4
DK=99
Competition is harmful. It
brings out the worst in people
5
6
7
8
9
10
18
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]
199019991997
2001
Phil
V35
V54
Social welfare services for elderly, handicapped or
deprived people
Pers
V28
V55
Religious or church organizations
Pers
V30
V56
Education, arts, music or cultural activities
Lead
V31
V57
Labor unions
Lead
V32
V58
Political parties or groups
Phil
V35
V59
Local community action on issues like poverty,
employment, housing, racial equality
Phil
V35
V60
Third world development or human rights
Phil
V33
V61
Conservation, environmental, animal rights groups
Lead
V34
V62
Professional associations
Phil
V36
V63
Youth work (scouts, guides, youth clubs, etc.)
Lead
V29
V64
Sports or recreation
Phil
V36
V65
Women’s groups
Phil
V36
V66
Peace movement
Phil
V36
V67
Voluntary organizations concerned with health
Do voluntary
Not
work
Mentioned
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
19
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.
20
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.
21
Table A1. Women’s Employment Rates and Gender Earnings Ratio by Country
WVS
Country
Acronym
Country
No.
17
42
7
12
33
6
23
1
87
16
21
9
4
13
5
18
25
41
85
8
19
26
44
11
2
3
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United States
United Kingdom
West Germany
Unweighted
Average
AS
AT
BE
CA
CZ
DK
FI
FR
GR
HU
IS
IE
IT
JP
NL
NO
PL
PT
SK
ES
SE
CH
TK
US
UK
DEW
Women’s Employment
Gender Earnings
Rates (18-64 year olds)
Ratio
19901993
─
57.3
49.2
65.7
90.4
79.6
82.2
53.9
─
78.2
74.8
49.8
51.6
57.7
53.1
84.0
78.7
67.8
95.6
37.5
87.9
55.9
18.7
71.9
70.1
61.7
WVS
19951997
69.8
─
─
─
─
─
64.0
─
─
─
─
─
─
65.8
─
86.8
45.0
─
─
35.0
84.6
69.9
25.7
68.1
─
66.6
19992001
─
73.9
60.1
69.8
78.7
86.7
75.1
61.8
71.4
65.8
79.9
57.6
62.3
60.4
69.6
─
─
57.6
77.6
44.5
87.0
─
17.2
75.4
66.3
─
OECD
2000
(25-54)
66.8
73.5
67.8
74.0
73.7
80.5
77.6
69.6
52.6
61.7
87.4
53.1
50.7
62.7
70.9
81.5
72.0
73.9
64.8
50.6
81.7
76.8
─
74.1
73.1
71.1
65.6
61.1
69.8
66.6
Secondary Sources
1990- 1995- 19991993
1997
2001
0.80
0.83
0.84
0.68
0.79
0.80
0.75
0.89
0.88
0.69
0.74
0.74
0.73
0.77
0.78
0.83
0.86
0.86
0.75
0.83
0.82
0.75
0.81
0.88
0.79
0.79
0.80
0.81
0.79
0.79
0.87
0.84
0.84
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.83
0.82
0.85
0.56
0.59
0.64
0.72
0.78
0.79
0.85
0.86
0.86
0.82
0.78
0.85
0.71
0.74
0.74
0.66
0.78
0.79
0.72
0.79
0.86
0.78
0.83
0.83
0.69
0.70
0.78
0.60
0.65
0.78
0.73
0.76
0.78
0.69
0.72
0.75
0.71
0.77
0.80
0.74
0.78
0.81
22
Table A1 (continued). Total Fertility Rates by Country
WVS
Country
No.
17
42
7
12
33
6
23
1
87
16
21
9
4
13
5
18
25
41
85
8
19
26
44
11
2
3
Country
Acronym
Total Fertility Rate
(OECD Social Indicators)
1990
1995
2000
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United States
United Kingdom
West Germany
Unweighted
Average
AS
AT
BE
CA
CZ
DK
FI
FR
GR
HU
IS
IE
IT
JP
NL
NO
PL
PT
SK
ES
SE
CH
TK
US
UK
DEW
1.91
1.45
1.62
1.71
1.89
1.67
1.78
1.78
1.39
1.84
2.3
2.11
1.33
1.54
1.62
1.93
2.04
1.57
2.09
1.36
2.13
1.59
2.93
2.08
1.8
1.45
1.85
1.4
1.55
1.62
1.28
1.8
1.81
1.7
1.32
1.57
2.08
1.83
1.18
1.42
1.53
1.87
1.61
1.4
1.52
1.18
1.73
1.48
2.62
2.02
1.7
1.25
1.75
1.34
1.66
1.53
1.14
1.77
1.73
1.88
1.29
1.32
2.08
1.89
1.23
1.36
1.72
1.85
1.34
1.55
1.29
1.24
1.54
1.5
2.57
2.06
1.65
1.38
1.80
1.63
1.60
23
Descriptive Statistics
Table 1. Average Gender Role Attitudes and Work Values Across Birth Cohorts
Birth Cohort:
<1935
Gender Role Attitudes:
Scarce jobs should
0.36
go to men first
Working mom warm
with kids
0.66
Being a housewife
fulfilling
0.69
Both should
0.79
contribute income¹
19361945
Women
1946
1956
-1955 -1965
>1965
<1935
19361945
Men
1946
-1955
1956
-1965
>1965
0.32
0.23
0.20
0.15
0.38
0.32
0.26
0.23
0.21
0.75
0.80
0.79
0.80
0.59
0.67
0.71
0.71
0.73
0.65
0.58
0.58
0.57
0.72
0.67
0.63
0.61
0.63
0.80
0.81
0.77
0.82
0.82
0.75
0.76
0.74
0.78
Important Aspects of Job:
0.63
Good pay
0.68
0.73
0.75
0.79
0.71
0.73
0.78
0.80
0.83
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
Good hours
24
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?
25
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.
26
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.
27
Empirical Strategy:
Individual-level Regressions
Let Yict 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
Yict   0   G Gict   J J ict   I I ict  V Vict   X X ict   m Gmct   C C   T T   ict ,
where Gict are the gender roles attitudes,
J ict work values,
I ict inner conflict variables,
Vict volunteering activities,
X ict are individual characteristics such as education, age, marital status, etc. and
where G mct are the average men’s gender role attitudes by country at time t,
C and T are countries and time dummies.
28
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?
29
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.
30
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:
Yct   0   G Gct   J J ict   vVict   F Fc  t   ict ,
where Fc 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:
Yct   0   G Gct   J J ct   X X ct   t t   Gt Gct  t   ict ,
where the operator  denotes differences between male and female country averages, t
denotes a time trend, and where the interaction parameter  Gt captures the time effect of
changes in gender role attitudes.
31
Table 2.
Determinants of
Employment
Status:
Marginal Effects
from a Probit Model
(1)
(2)
Sample:
(3)
Women
Gender role attitudes:
Scarce jobs should go
To men first
Working mom warm
with kids
Being a housewife
Fulfilling
Both spouses should
contribute income
Important in a job:
Good pay
Good hours
Volunteer in organizations
with leader building skills
philanthropic
religious and cultural
No
(6)
Men
-0.049
(-2.65)
0.129
(7.49)
-0.078
(-5.82)
0.103
(6.08)
-0.075
(-7.49)
0.138
(10.08)
-0.088
(-10.39)
-0.222
(-4.57)
0.129
(6.52)
-0.141
(-2.41)
-0.007
(-0.95)
0.129
(1.02)
-0.004
(-0.70)
0.029
(1.35)
0.022
(1.66)
0.005
(0.55)
0.005
(0.51)
0.048
(0.50)
-0.060
(-0.86)
0.036
(1.62)
0.011
(0.93)
0.026
(1.21)
0.022
(1.39)
-0.002
(-0.14)
-0.037
(-2.63)
0.023
(1.71)
0.032
(1.12)
0.041
(2.89)
0.032
(1.10)
0.032
(2.81)
0.125
(11.56)
-0.047
(-1.46)
0.005
(0.32)
0.077
(3.67)
-0.047
(-1.95)
-0.020
(-0.90)
0.127
(12.51)
-0.016
(-1.04)
0.001
(0.01)
0.274
(3.34)
-0.025
(-0.42)
-0.025
(-0.46)
0.040
(5.53)
-0.039
(-1.29)
0.018
(2.53)
No
No
Yes
No
No
Meeting people
Competition is OK
(5)
Immigrant
Women
-0.068
(-5.82)
0.147
(7.58)
-0.084
(-5.92)
Useful to society
Men’s average gender
role attitudes
(4)
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.
32
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
33
Table 3.
Determinants of
Incidence of PartTime Work among
Employees:
Marginal Effects from
a Probit Model
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
Men
0.015
(0.89)
-0.028
(-2.36)
0.033
(3.26)
-0.014
(-0.49)
-0.028
(-1.45)
0.012
(1.32)
-0.051
(-3.15)
0.019
(1.11)
-0.027
(-2.59)
0.034
(3.79)
-0.001
(-0.29)
-0.007
(2.09)
-0.003
(-1.26)
-0.034
(-3.53)
0.050
(5.26)
-0.033
(-3.29)
0.052
(5.31)
-0.009
(-2.34)
0.010
(2.32)
-0.054
(-3.55)
-0.027
(-1.35)
0.048
(3.16)
-0.016
(-1.38)
-0.006
-0.057
(-1.43)
-0.055
(-3.53)
-0.054
(-1.38)
-0.026
(-2.72)
0.014
(1.62)
0.063
(4.90)
0.001
(0.06)
0.028
(1.41)
0.046
(1.38)
-0.028
(-2.80)
0.022
(2.65)
0.065
(5.02)
-0.010
(-2.39)
0.002
(0.54)
0.015
(2.05)
No
No
Yes
No
Sample:
Women
Gender role attitudes:
Scarce jobs should go
to men first
Working mom warm
with kids
Being a housewife
fulfilling
Both spouses should
contribute income
Important in a job:
Good pay
Good hours
Useful to society
Meeting people
Competition is OK
Volunteer in organizations
with leader building skills
philanthropic
religious and cultural
Men’s average gender
role attitudes
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.
34
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)
35
.75
.5
1
SK
DE
CZ
SEDK SE NO
SE NO
FI
IS
DK CZ
HU
SK
FI
IS US
AT
GR US
UK
NLCA
ASCH PL
US
DEW
UK CADE
HU
JP PT
FI
DEW
FRBE IT JP
JP
IE
PT
AT
CH
FR
NL
IT
IE
BE
PL
ES
Women's Employment Rate
Women's Employment Rate
1
PL
ES
ES
TK
.25
TK
TK
0
SK
CZ
.75
NL
JP
BE FR
JP
.5
IS
IS
ES
ES
TK
.25
TK
TK
0
.1
.3
.5
.6
.7
a) Scarce Jobs Should Go to Men
1
DE
1
SK
CZ
SE
DK
FINO
NO SE
DK
SE
IS
SK HUCZ
IS
GR
UK
AS US
NL PL
DEWPT
UK
HU
CA
IT
DEW
BEFR
PT
AT
FR
IT NL
IE
BE
PL
ES
.75
DE
.5
FIUS
CA
US
FI
JP
JP
JP
ES
ES
TK
.25
TK
.8
b) Competition OK
TK
0
Women's Employment Rate
Women's Employment Rate
DE
SE SE
DK
SE
FI NO
DK
PL
SK HU CZ
US
FI
AT US
GR
UK PL CA
CH
AS
US
PT UK
DEW
FI HUDE DEW CA
IT JP
PT
IE
AT
FR
NLIT
IE
BE
PL ES
NO
.75
.5
SK
CZ
DE
DK
NO
FI
IS
DK
PL
CZ
HU
SK
FI
IS
AT
US
GRNLCA
UKPL
PTHU
UK
JP
CA
IT
FR
DEW FI
JP
BE
JP
PT
IE
AT
CH
FR
IT NL
IE
BE
PL ES
SE
ES
.25
SE
SE
NO
US
DE
CH
DEW
US AS
ES
TK
TK
TK
0
.3
.5
.7
c) Being a Housewife Fulfilling
.9
.1
.3
.5
d) Volunteer in Leadership Org.
Figure 1 - Women's Employment Rate Across Countries
36
Table 4a.
Determinants of
Women’s
Employment Rates
Across Countries
(1)
Averages by country
Gender role attitudes:
Scarce jobs should go
to men first
Being a housewife
fulfilling
Competition is OK
Volunteer in organizations
with leader building skills
l
religious and cultural
Log of public expenditures
on child care1
Time trend
Adjusted-R square
No. observations
No. countries
(2)
(3)
Women’s
(4)
(5)
(6)
Men’s
Women’s
-0.764
(-4.17)
-0.109
(-1.08)
0.493
(1.79)
-0.546
(-3.25)
-0.232
(-2.07)
0.893
(2.74)
-0.498
(-2.41)
-0.042
(-0.26)
0.471
(1.98)
Women’s
Lagged2
-0.909
(-5.86)
-0.204
(-1.26)
0.304
(0.74)
0.371
(1.85)
-0.359
(-1.55)
0.195
(1.35)
-0.347
(-1.41)
0.347
(2.03)
-0.320
(-1.60)
0.047
(2.38)
0.000
(0.00)
0.054
(0.21)
-0.261
(-1.26)
0.791
42
21
0.830
21
16
-0.002
(-0.40)
-0.006
(-1.58)
0.000
(-0.09)
0.115
(7.50)
0.004
(1.22)
0.221
50
26
0.674
50
26
0.652
50
26
0.675
42
21
0.007
(0.84)
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.
37
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
38
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
39
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.
40
Total Fertility Rates across Countries
1995
2.5
1990
IS
1.5
2
IE
US
UK
FR
CA
BE NL
PT
JP
AT DEW
IT
ES
SE
NO
HUFI
DK
US
FI AS
NO
SE
JP
DEW
1
ES
Total
2.5
1999
IS
2
1.5
DK
SE
ES
ES
USUSUS IS
FR
FI AS
UK
FR
NL
CA
BE
UK
BE NL
PT
PT
JP
CA
AT DEW
JP
JP
IT
HU PL
GR SK
ES
IT DEW
CZ
1
ES
FR
FI
BE UKNL
PT
CA
JP HUPL
GR SK
IT
CZ
SE
NONO
HU
DK
FI DKFISE
SE
IE
US IS
.4
.6
.8
1
.4
.6
.8
1
Women's Employment Rates
Total Fertility Rates
Fitted values
Graphs by year
41
(5)
0.680
(2.36)
(6)
0.666
(2.26)
Men's
Women’s
Men's
-1.188
(-3.04)
0.791
(3.04)
-1.149
(-3.29)
0.777
(2.46)
-0.569
(-1.38)
0.877
(3.81)
-0.684
(-1.88)
0.860
(3.02)
Women’s Education (primary omitted)
Secondary
0.384
0.220
(1.35)
(0.77)
Upper secondary
-0.367
-0.754
(-1.12)
(-2.25)
Tertiary
1.097
0.600
(3.48)
(2.16)
Time
-0.014
-0.020
(-1.67)
(-2.32)
0.284
(0.93)
-0.716
(-1.97)
0.579
(1.79)
-0.022
(-2.79)
0.245
(0.99)
-0.576
(-2.14)
0.792
(2.71)
-0.015
(-2.23)
0.109
(0.48)
-0.979
-(4.55)
0.544
(2.24)
-0.014
(-1.98)
0.164
(0.71)
-0.960
-(4.14)
0.506
(1.93)
-0.018
-(2.67)
Adjusted-R square
No. observations
No. countries
0.545
46
24
0.482
46
24
0.626
46
24
0.593
46
24
(1)
Table 4b.
Determinants
of Total
Fertility Rates
Across
Countries
(2)
(3)
Women’s
Women's Employment
Rates
Averages by country
Gender role attitudes:
Scarce jobs should go
to men first
Being a housewife
fulfilling
0.374
46
24
0.568
46
24
(4)
0.827
(3.29)
Notes: The women’s total fertility rates by country are reported in Table A1. T-values in
parentheses are from robust clustering by country.
42
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.
43
.5
.5
TK
.4
JP
TK
AT
UK
CA CH
DEW
NL
ES
CA US
UK
BE
DEW
TK
ES
NL
GR
.3
PT
.2
JP
JP
FIFR US
PL
SEUS CZ
HU
IE SK
AT
IE
FI
PL
SE DK
FISE IT
IS
PL
NO
DK
ESIT
NO
BE FR
Gender Pay Gap
Gender Pay Gap
JP
CH
JP
.4
CH
DEW
ES
NL
US
CA
PT
BE
FI FR
US
DEW
US
CZ
PL
ESSE NL
IE HU IE
AT
PL
FI
SE
IT
SE
FI
IS
IT ES NO
PL
DK NO
IS
FR BE
.2
IS
0
.1
.2
.3
-.05
a) Higher Education Gap
UK
SK
TK
GR
0
.05
.1
.15
b) Gap: Scarce Jobs Should Go to Men
.5
.5
JP
TK
.4
JP
JP
UK
CA
JP
TK
AT
DEW
ES NL
US
CA PT
UK FR
FI
BE
US
DEW
US
SE
TK ES CZ
PL
NL HU SK
IE
FI
SE
IT
DK SE FI
IS
NO
IT
DK
ES NO
IS
FR
BE
.2
GR
Gender Pay Gap
Gender Pay Gap
TK
AT
.1
-.1
.3
CH
UK
CA
.3
DK
.1
TK
JP
JP
.4
TK
JP
TK
UK
.3
PT
.2
AT
SE
PL
.1
PL
AT
CA
CH
DEW
NL
US
CA
UK FI
BE FR
US
US DEW
SECZ ESTK
NL SK
HU IE
IE
GR
IT FI
DK SE
FI
IS
IT
NO ES
DK
NO
IS
FR
BE
ES
PL
.1
-.05
0
.05
.1
.15
c) Gap: Being a Housewife Fulfilling
-.15
-.1
-.05
0
.05
d) Gap: Good Hours
Figure 2 - Gender Pay Gap Across Countries
44
Table 5. Determinants of the Gender Pay Gap
across Countries
Gender Gap in
Tertiary education
Gender role attitudes:
Scarce jobs should go
to men first
Being a housewife
fulfilling
Important in a job:
Good hours
Time Trend
Mean
0.034
(1)
0.568
(4.65)
(2)
0.544
(4.56)
(3)
0.486
(4.21)
(4)
0.518
(4.93)
0.402
(3.17)
-0.313
(-1.93)
0.410
(3.24)
-0.254
(-1.44)
0.436
(3.33)
-0.694
(-1.97)
-0.004
(-2.10)
-0.003
(-1.33)
-0.220
(-1.31)
-0.004
(-1.62)
-0.211
(-1.28)
-0.006
(-3.07)
0.069
(1.80)
0.518
0.553
0.557
0.580
0.029
0.041
-0.066
Time Trend*Being
a housewife fulfilling
Adjusted R-square
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.
45
.5
.5
JP
.4
TK
JP
CA
.3
CH
UK
TK
AT
CH
DEW
ES
NL
US
PT
BE
FI FR
US
DEW
US
CZ
PL
ESSE NL
HU AT
IE
IE
PL
FI
SE
IT
SE
FI
IS
IT ES NO
PL
DK NO
IS
FR BE
CA
.2
DK
Gender Pay Gap
Gender Pay Gap
JP
JP
UK
SK
TK
GR
JP
TK
.4
JP
UK
.3
CA
DEW
ES NL
US
CA PT
FR
FI
BE
US
DEW
US
SE
TK ES CZ
PL
NL
HU SK
IE
FI
SE
IT
SE FI
IS
NO
IT
DK
ES NO
IS
FR
BE
UK
.2
DK
.1
TK
AT
0
.05
.1
.15
-.1
a) Gap: Scarce Jobs Should Go to Men
-.05
0
.05
.1
.15
b) Gap: Being a Housewife Fulfilling
.5
.5
JP
JP
JP
TK
.4
JP
TK
AT
UK
CA CH
DEW
NL
ES
CA US
UK
BE
DEW
TK
ES
NL
GR
.3
PT
FIFR US
PL
SEUS CZ
HU
IE SK
AT
IE
FI
PL
SE
DK
FISE IT
IS
IT
DK PLNO
ES
NO
BE FR
Gender Pay Gap
Gender Pay Gap
PL
.1
-.05
.2
GR
CH
JP
.4
TK
JP
CA
.3
US
CA
US
DEW
US
.2
FI SE
SK
FI SE
NO
IS
.1
PT
BE
UK
FR
ES
IE
IE
GR
TK
AT
CH
CH
DEW
NL ES
UK
NL
IS
IT
ES
IS FR
PL
SE
TK
HU
ITPL
FI
CZ
AT
DK
NO
PL
DK
BE
.1
-.1
0
.1
.2
c) Higher Education Gap
.3
-.15
-.1
-.05
0
.05
d) Gap: Religious Volunteering
Figure 3 - Gender Pay Gap Across Countries
46
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 worklife 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.
47
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
48
Table A2. Average (over Time) Gender Role Attitudes and Work Values by Country
Women
Country
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Czech
Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United States
United
Kingdom
West Germany
Men
Gender Role Attitudes
Work Values
Scarce
Working
House-
Both
Good
Good
Useful
jobs
mom
wife
income
pay
hours
job
0.20
0.31
0.29
0.14
0.32
0.77
0.57
0.80
0.80
0.75
0.67
0.59
0.58
0.73
0.49
0.63
─
0.75
0.75
0.93
0.58
0.60
0.67
0.75
0.79
0.40
0.46
0.46
0.54
0.49
─
0.35
0.39
─
0.34
0.06
0.09
0.26
0.15
0.28
0.04
0.20
0.30
0.26
0.15
0.10
0.36
0.28
0.36
0.22
0.05
0.10
0.50
0.12
0.19
0.87
0.97
0.78
0.80
0.78
0.91
0.70
0.71
0.95
0.83
0.80
0.60
0.78
0.73
0.74
0.86
─
0.60
0.83
0.78
0.53
0.67
0.56
0.35
0.60
0.64
0.67
0.47
0.85
0.49
0.54
0.49
0.44
0.50
0.55
0.57
─
0.76
0.76
0.59
0.67
0.76
0.78
0.90
0.89
0.65
─
0.84
0.61
0.43
0.79
0.91
0.92
0.89
0.92
0.90
─
0.94
0.72
0.66
0.50
0.65
0.61
0.90
0.91
0.85
0.80
0.77
0.86
0.68
0.55
0.77
0.80
0.88
0.77
0.62
0.60
0.92
0.86
0.75
0.38
0.44
0.35
0.54
0.77
0.66
0.55
0.55
0.77
0.46
0.40
0.51
0.60
0.60
0.47
0.53
0.45
0.89
0.63
0.53
0.18
0.67
0.43
0.77
0.68 0.46
Gender Role Attitudes
People
Work Values
Comp
Scarce
Working
House-
Both
Good
Good
Useful
OK
jobs
mom
wife
income
pay
hours
job
People
Comp
─
0.53
0.58
─
0.42
0.77
0.77
0.64
0.75
0.81
0.22
0.34
0.26
0.12
0.37
0.65
0.47
0.75
0.72
0.64
0.68
0.59
0.67
0.75
0.56
0.65
─
0.63
0.75
0.90
0.70
0.70
0.77
0.79
0.83
0.32
0.36
0.39
0.48
0.42
─
0.34
0.39
─
0.26
─
0.42
0.50
─
0.30
0.79
0.80
0.66
0.78
0.84
0.25
0.28
0.29
0.53
0.82
0.42
0.37
0.65
─
0.36
─
0.44
0.54
0.27
0.44
0.27
─
0.97
─
0.29
0.52
0.46
0.53
0.53
0.78
0.57
0.56
0.68
─
0.68
─
0.48
0.43
0.29
0.40
0.48
─
0.88
─
0.48
0.66
0.71
0.65
0.67
0.74
0.82
0.70
0.65
0.63
0.63
0.74
0.71
0.66
0.76
0.65
0.75
0.76
0.68
0.75
0.68
0.04
0.13
0.25
0.29
0.29
0.05
0.22
0.31
0.30
0.13
0.13
0.41
0.30
0.42
0.22
0.04
0.14
0.64
0.15
0.24
0.85
0.92
0.78
0.70
0.71
0.81
0.63
0.62
0.89
0.74
0.64
0.49
0.70
0.64
0.73
0.71
─
0.55
0.73
0.71
0.53
0.69
0.58
0.54
0.69
0.68
0.69
0.56
0.87
0.52
0.56
0.63
0.51
0.56
0.59
0.59
─
0.80
0.76
0.54
0.66
0.73
0.79
0.85
0.87
0.58
─
0.77
0.53
0.33
0.79
0.90
0.86
0.89
0.88
0.89
─
0.81
0.78
0.67
0.68
0.69
0.62
0.89
0.93
0.89
0.83
0.81
0.85
0.79
0.68
0.79
0.79
0.90
0.79
0.72
0.74
0.92
0.90
0.83
0.31
0.39
0.33
0.48
0.72
0.59
0.52
0.50
0.62
0.36
0.34
0.47
0.47
0.51
0.47
0.45
0.38
0.87
0.56
0.44
0.23
0.29
0.30
0.48
0.77
0.45
0.38
0.63
─
0.37
─
0.43
0.44
0.20
0.42
0.22
─
0.98
─
0.27
0.42
0.39
0.39
0.49
0.75
0.51
0.48
0.66
─
0.59
─
0.50
0.33
0.20
0.38
0.46
─
0.88
─
0.36
0.75
0.74
0.65
0.67
0.75
0.83
0.74
0.70
0.69
0.66
0.80
0.73
0.67
0.78
0.68
0.79
0.80
0.75
0.79
0.72
─
─
0.73
0.25
0.49
0.48
0.76
0.74 0.39
─
─
0.77
OK
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
49