Just Like Mom? The Intergenerational Reproduction of Women's Paid Work

Abstract

Given the increasing female labour force participation rates in recent decades, the question arises as to whether the daughters of working mothers show different job patterns than the daughters of homemakers. Using data from a sample of 3,169 adult women in the 2002-2004 wave of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, we find that women who were raised by a working mother work about two more hours per week than those raised by a homemaking mother. The likelihood that women are currently in the labour market is not affected by their mother's past labour force participation. Women's own educational achievement and the presence of children younger than 12 are the strongest determinants of their participation and work hours. Our findings add to the growing evidence that parental behaviours during childhood have long-reaching consequences for children's behaviours, also in the realm of paid work. This provides a useful explanation for the persisting gender gap in work hours across Europe, in addition to the conventional explanations of education, occupational history and family formation.

The intergenerational transfer of the employment gender gap

“…Daughters of working mothers are familiar with the costs and benefits of combining work in the labor market and at home. This hypothesis is consistent with previous studies finding a positive correlation between the mother's and the daughter's labor market attachments (Almquist and Angrist, 1970;Rapoport and Rapoport, 1971;Vento Bielby, 1978;Kaufman and Richardson, 1982;Sanders, 1997;Hendrickx and de Graaf, 2001;van Putten et al, 2008). Specifically for labor market participation, Del Boca et al (2000) find that in Italy the mother's employment is a significant predictor of the daughter's employment, even when controlling for a rich set of observables.…”

Female Labour Supply and Intergenerational Preference Formation: Evidence for Mexico

“…Kahn (2011) andFernández andFogli (2009b) investigate women's labour supply, using the country of migration and the parental country of migration, respectively. Van Putten et al (2008) analyse whether the daughters of working mothers show different job patterns than the daughters of non-working mothers. Casey and Dustmann (2010) reveal a strong intergenerational transmission of identity across generations of immigrants in Germany.…”

Socio-demographic Correlates of Fathers' and Mothers’ Parenting Behaviors

“…This is an interesting finding, which probably can be explained by changing value patterns resulting from increased women’s labor market participation. Just as working mothers positively affected the labor market participation of their daughters (Van Putten et al 2008), the manner in which working mothers reconcile work and care, and parent their children may also set an example for their partners. By demonstrating to their partners that their children can be safely granted more autonomy, working mothers may stimulate their partners to do the same.…”