Why is there Cross-Country Variation in Female Labor Force Participation Rates? The Role of Male Attitudes Toward Family and Sex Roles

Antecol (2000) finds that culture plays a role in explaining inter-ethnic variation in the gender gap in labor force participation rates (LFPR). However, Antecol (2000) was unable to determine what the components of culture, such as differences in preferences regarding family structure and women's role in market versus home work, actually are and how to quantify these components in an empirically meaningful manner. Using data from the 1994 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), this paper proxies culture using a set of questions on male attitudes toward family and sex roles. I find that women are more likely to work if men in their country view female LFP in a favorable light.Family Structure; Female Labor Force Participation; Social Norms; Culture

An Examination of Cross-Country Differences in the Gender Gap in Labor Force Participation Rates

Using evidence on variation in the gender gap in labor force participation rates(LFPR) across home country groups in the United States, this paper attempts to assess the role of two factors, human capital and culture, in explaining why cross-country differences exist in these gaps. While human capital factors play a limited role, as controlling for these factors does not eliminate variation in the gender gap in LFPR across home country groups, cultural factors, such as tastes regarding family structure and women's role in market versus home work, appear to be important. In particular, for first generation immigrants, I find that over half of the overall variation in the gender gap in LFPR across home country groups within the United States can be attributed to home country LFPR. This finding suggests that there must be a permanent, portable factor, i.e. culture, that is not captured by observed human capital measures and not related to labor market institutions, that affects outcomes. As the overall variation in the unadjusted gender gap in LFPR and the role of home country LFPR are smaller for second-and-higher generation immigrants, there exists evidence of cultural assimilation as well.

Does Single Parenthood Increase the Probability of Teenage Promiscuity, Drug Use and Crime?

There is longstanding evidence that children raised by single parents are more likely to perform poorly in school and partake in ‘deviant’ behaviors such as smoking, sex, substance use and crime at young ages. However, as of yet there is not widespread evidence or agreement as to whether or not the timing of the marital disruption differentially impacts youth outcomes. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and the NLSY Young Adult Supplement, we find that the longer the biological father remains in the household the lower the probability that youth engage in sexual activity. In contrast, it is youth whose fathers are never present who are more likely to be convicted of a crime, youth whose fathers leave during adolescence who are more likely to drink alcohol and use illegal drugs and youth whose fathers leave during childhood who are more likely to smoke cigarettes.Family Structure; Marital Dissolution; Youth Outcomes

The Decision to Work by Married Immigrant Women: The Role of Extended Family Households

We find differential rates of cohabitation with adult relatives as well as differential impacts of that cohabitation on the probability of employment for married female immigrants across regions of origin. This suggests that traditions and/or cultural determinants of family structure influence female labor force participation. Not surprisingly, we also find that the labor supply response is biggest for immigrants with young children. This further suggests that cohabitation allows married immigrant women to share childcare and other household responsibilities, which in turn increases the probability that they work outside of the home.Family Structure; Female Labor Force Participation; Immigration

Is Discrimination Against Women Really Declining? The Puzzle of Survey Reports

This paper seeks to explain why young women are much more likely to report being harmed by gender discrimination than older women. Using a recent sample of job seekers, we conclude that the answer does not lie in higher "objective" discrimination, as usually measured by economists, since measured discrimination is not higher against young women on any dimension we can measure. Because young women are also more likely to report that they were the beneficiaries of labor market discrimination than older women, and because young men are more likely than older men to report that they were harmed by discrimination, we conclude that the answer is also unlikely to lie in a higher overall level of unmeasured discrimination against young women. Using a formal model of the reporting decision, we conclude that the most likely cause of young women's higher reports is a difference in reporting behavior between young and old workers of both sexes: young workers are more willing to interpret departures in either direction from gender-neutral treatment as discriminatory than older workers.

Against All Odds: The Surprising Labor Market Success of Young Mexican Women

Using the NLSY, we find that young Mexican women earn 11.7% less than young White women while young Black women earn 19.2% less than young White women. Although young Mexican women earn less than young White women, they do surprisingly well compared to young Black women. We show that while it is crucially important to account for actual labor market experience, it does not matter if we account for childbirth patterns, and non-linearities in the experience profile. We further show that low labor force attachment is the most important determinant of the Black-White wage differential for young women while education is the most important explanation for the Mexican-White wage gap for young women.

The Racial Wage Gap: The Importance of Labor Force Attachment Differences Across Black, Mexican and White Men

Labor market attachment differs significantly across black, Mexican and white men; black and Mexican men are more likely to experience unemployment and out of the labor force spells than are white men. While it has long been agreed that potential experience is a poor proxy of actual experience for women, many view it as an acceptable approximation for men. Using the NLSY, this paper documents the substantial difference between potential and actual experience for both black and Mexican men. We show that the fraction of the black/white and Mexican/white wage gaps that are explained by differences in potential experience are very different than the fraction of the racial wage gaps that are explained by actual (real) experience differences. We further show that the fraction of the racial wage gap explained by education is substantially overstated when potential experience is used instead of actual experience.Discrimination; Wages

Female Labor Supply Differences by Sexual Orientation: A Semi-Parametric Decomposition Approach

Using 2000 U.S. Census data we illustrate the importance of accounting for household specialization in lesbian couples when examining the sexual orientation gap in female labor supply. Specifically, we find the labor supply gap is substantially larger between married women and partnered lesbian women who specialize in market production (primary earners) than between married women and partnered lesbian women who specialize in household production (secondary earners). Using a semi-parametric decomposition approach, we further show that the role of children in explaining the mean labor supply gap by sexual orientation is greatly understated if the household division of labor between household and market production is not taken into account. Finally, we illustrate that controlling for children significantly reduces differences between married women and secondary lesbian earners both in terms of the decision to remain attached to the labor market (the extensive margin), as well as in terms of annual hours of work conditional on working (the intensive margin). Further, the effect of controlling for children is not uniform across the distribution of conditional annual hours; instead it primarily reduces the percentage of secondary lesbian earners working extremely high annual hours.household specialization, female labor supply, sexual orientation

The Effect of Community-Level Socio-Economic Conditions on Threatening Racial Encounters

This paper contributes to the emerging literature on racial and ethnic tension by analyzing the relationship between local socio-economic conditions and the propensity for outsiders to have threatening racial encounters with insiders. We use unique data for a sample of active-duty Army personnel that allow us to first, link personnel to the local communities in which they are located and second, to avoid any selectivity bias associated with endogenous community selection. We find at best mixed evidence that racial hostility is related to economic vulnerability within a community and no evidence that racial conflict can be linked to the level of public expenditure. Crime rates, however, are closely related to the incidence of threatening racial encounters and while a community’s demographic profile is also clearly linked to racial tension, these relationships cannot be easily generalized across minority groups or type of threatening racial encounter.racial and ethnic tension, U.S. military, economics of minorities

The Sexual Harassment of Female Active-Duty Personnel: Effects on Job Satisfaction and Intentions to Remain in the Military

This paper examines the relationship between sexual harassment and the job satisfaction and intended turnover of active-duty women in the U.S. military using unique data from a survey of the incidence of unwanted gender-related behavior conducted by the U.S. Department of Defense. Overall, 70.9 percent of active-duty women reported experiencing some type of sexually harassing behavior in the 12 months prior to the survey. Using single-equation probit models, we find that experiencing a sexually harassing behavior is associated with reduced job satisfaction and heightened intentions to leave the military. However, bivariate probit results indicate that failing to control for unobserved personality traits causes single-equation estimates of the effect of the sexually harassing behavior to be overstated. Similarly, including women’s views about whether or not they have in fact been sexually harassed directly into the single equation model reduces the estimated effect of the sexually harassing behavior itself on job satisfaction by almost a half while virtually eliminating it for intentions to leave the military. Finally, women who view their experiences as sexual harassment suffer additional negative consequences over and above those associated with the behavior itself.job satisfaction; sexual harassment; military employment