Children and Gender Inequality: Evidence from Denmark

Abstract

Despite considerable gender convergence over time, substantial gender inequality persists in all countries. Using Danish administrative data from 1980-2013 and an event study approach, we show that most of the remaining gender inequality in earnings is due to children. The arrival of children creates a gender gap in earnings of around 20% in the long run, driven in roughly equal proportions by labor force participation, hours of work, and wage rates. Underlying these "child penalties", we find clear dynamic impacts on occupation, promotion to manager, sector, and the family friendliness of the firm for women relative to men. Based on a dynamic decomposition framework, we show that the fraction of gender inequality caused by child penalties has increased dramatically over time, from about 40% in 1980 to about 80%in 2013. As a possible explanation for the persistence of child penalties, we show that they are transmitted through generations, from parents to daughters (but not sons), consistent with an influence of childhood environment in the formation of women's preferences over family and career.

Specialization Then and Now: Marriage, Children, and the Gender Earnings Gap across Cohorts

“…Using Swedish data from 1986-2008, Angelov, Johansson, and Lindahl (2016 follow the within-family difference between the earnings of mothers and fathers and find that the earnings gap increases by 32 percentage points and wage gaps by 10 percentage points after birth of their first child. Using similar data for Denmark, Kleven, Landais, and Sogaard (2015) find that 10 years after childbirth, mothers' earnings have fallen 20 percent relative to non-mothers, while fathers' earnings continue to track those of non-fathers. The authors simulate the impact of these within-family gaps associated with children on the overall gender gap and find that their importance to the overall gap grew substantially between 1980 and 2011-rising from 30 percent to 80 percent of the gap.…”

“…Cross-sectional estimates suggest that married men earn somewhere between 10 to 40 percent higher wages compared to observationally equivalent single men (for example, Hill 1979;Korenman and Neumark 1991;Antonovics and Town 2004). Korenman and Neumark (1991) find evidence of positive selection of men into marriage based on earnings-that is, men with higher earnings are more likely to marry. But they also find that much of the male marriage premium accrues from faster wage growth after marriage, which is consistent with marriage allowing men to shift towards more market work and less home production.…”

Gender Factors and Inclusive Economic Growth: The Silent Revolution

“…This relationship is also produced when salaries increase, the salary gap persists [53], and the results of fertility are translated into higher salaries for women [54]. The necessity of good social planning so that fertility significantly raises the production per capita has been demonstrated [55][56][57].…”

Gender gaps in the effects of childhood family environment: Do they persist into adulthood?

“…By age 40, maternal education no longer has a differential effect on sons and daughters, and paternal education has a stronger impact on sons. This change may reflect the different career lifecycles of men and women, especially related to childbirth (Kleven et al (2015)). …”