Program > Papers by author > Garcia-Peñalosa Cecilia

Gender norms and labor supply: Identifying heterogeneous patterns across groups of women
Estefania Galvan  1@  , Cecilia Garcia-Peñalosa  2@  
1 : Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques  (AMSE)
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales : UMR7316, Aix Marseille Université : UMR7316, Ecole Centrale de Marseille : UMR7316, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique : UMR7316
5-9 Boulevard BourdetCS 5049813205 Marseille Cedex 1 -  France
2 : Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille  (GREQAM)
Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II, Université Paul Cézanne - Aix-Marseille III, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS], CNRS : UMR7316, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS)
Centre de la Charité, 2 rue de la Charité, 13236 Marseille cedex 02 -  France

The reduction in gender gaps observed in the second half of the 20th century seems to have halted and social norms are argued to be a major cause behind the remaining differences in the labour market performance of men and women. This paper seeks to understand heterogeneity in labor market responses to social norms. We focus on two norms: the fact that males should be a household's main breadwinner, and the expectation that women will do most of the childcare. Our results indicate that distinct gender roles have different effects. Using panel data for US couples and an event study approach we estimate the impact of the birth of the first child on labour market trajectories, and we find that motherhood generates very strong responses, in terms of the intensive and the extensive margins of labour supply. Although women who were the main earners have a somewhat smaller reduction in employment than secondary earners, both groups largely conform to the traditional division of roles, pointing towards a misallocation of resources. In contrast, the effect of the male breadwinner norm is highly contextualized. Women of all education levels are affected by it, yet the margin along which they react differs. The results also suggest a hierarchy of norms, as gender roles seem to be less important in households without offspring.


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