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CHILDREN AND GENDER INEQUALITY: EVIDENCE FROM DENMARK

Hei-ock Kim

NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES
CHILDREN AND GENDER INEQUALITY:
EVIDENCE FROM DENMARK
Henrik Kleven
Camille Landais
Jakob Egholt Søgaard
Working Paper 24219
http://www.nber.org/papers/w24219
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
January 2018

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

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The Impact of Equal Pay on Poverty and the Economy

Hei-ock Kim

Jessica Milli, Ph.D., Yixuan Huang, Heidi Hartmann Ph.D., and Jeff Hayes, Ph.D.
This briefing paper summarizes analyses of the 2014-2016 Current Population Survey Annual
Social and Economic supplement and uses statistical controls for labor supply, human capital,
and labor market characteristics to estimate: 1) how much women’s earnings and family incomes
would rise if working women were paid the same as comparable men (men who work the same
number of hours, are the same age, have the same educational attainment and urban/rural status
and live in the same region of the country); 2) how much women and their families lose because
women earn less than similarly qualified men; 3) how many children would benefit from the
increased earnings of their mothers; 4) how many children and families would be brought out of
poverty if women received equal pay; and 5) how much the economy as a whole suffers from
inequality in pay between women and men.

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What Wells Fargo’s Fake Accounts Scandal Says About How Women in Leadership Are Punished

Hei-ock Kim

Fortune April 18, 2017 Victoria Medvec After a huge scandal involving thousands of employees and two million unauthorized accounts, Wells Fargo announced last week that it would claw back an additional $75 million from John Stumpf, the bank’s former CEO, and Carrie Tolstedt, the former head of community banking. While the two were most certainly at fault, a deeper dive …

Fight Back with Bold Bills: #StrongerCA 2018 Legislative Agenda for Gender Equity Webinar

Hei-ock Kim

Go to Meeting Registration Fight Back with Bold Bills: #StrongerCA 2018 Legislative Agenda for Gender Equity Webinar Date: Friday, June 22, 2018 Time: 12:00 – 12:45 p.m. Pacific Time (US and Canada) Cost: Free California is leading the nation on bold legislation to ensure women’s equality. The Stronger CA 2018 Legislative Agenda will help end workplace sexual harassment, close the …

Parties ordered to obey two-thirds gender rule

Hei-ock Kim

Standard Digital April 21, 2017 By Paul O. Ogemba Political parties have been ordered to come up with modalities to ensure they comply with the two-thirds gender rule during their nominations. Justice Chacha Mwita ruled that no political party should present a list of candidates for nominations for the seats of MPs, senators and MCAs that does not comply with …

Five Ways to Win an Argument about the Gender Wage Gap (Updated 2017)

Hei-ock Kim

1. Other data series on weekly or hourly earnings are not necessarily more accurate than the annual figure.
2. The annual wage ratio of 80.5 percent is actually a moderate estimate of gender pay inequality. Women of color fare much worse. Part-time
3. Women’s ‘choices’ are not necessarily choices.
4. There is no proof that being a mother makes a woman less productive on the job.
5. Discrimination is still a factor—a big one—in the gender wage gap.

Debunking myths Discrimination against women Pay parity Wage gap Workplace Tools Women’s issues

Is This How Discrimination Ends?

Hei-ock Kim

The Atlantic May 7,2017 By Jessica Nordell On a cloudy day in February, Will Cox pointed to a pair of news photos that prompted a room of University of Wisconsin, Madison, graduate students to shift in their seats. In one image, a young African American man clutches a carton of soda under his arm. Dark water swirls around his torso; …

Ann Friedman: GOP leader’s ‘everybody’ doesn’t include women

Hei-ock Kim

Gulf Today July 22, 2017 Tribune News Service It’s been a bad week for male separatists. In Washington, D.C., the all-male Republican Senate leadership, which chose not to invite any female senators to their working-group meetings on repealing the Affordable Care Act, watched in frustration as their bill fizzled after those women declined to support it. Sen. Majority Leader Mitch …

San Diego approves equal pay law to address persistent gender gap

Hei-ock Kim

San Diego Union-Tribune July 31, 2017 By David Garrick San Diego on Monday became the largest city in the nation to pass a law requiring city contractors and consultants to pay employees equally regardless of gender or ethnicity. The City Council unanimously approved the new legislation, an “equal pay” ordinance that aims to help close persistent pay gaps for women …

Miss Peru Pageant turns into gender violence protest

Hei-ock Kim

BBC November 1, 2017 Participants in Peru’s Miss Universe Pageant broke with tradition and recited statistics detailing violence against women rather than give their body measurements. The organisers also joined in showing news material of prominent cases of gender-based attacks. The 23 aspiring beauty queens were hoping to get through to November’s Miss Universe Competition in Las Vegas. Last year …