| dc.description.abstract | As couples transition into parenthood, they can face adjustments in terms of the
labor division of standard household tasks. In this thesis, we analyze a selection of
ten European countries utilizing a Regression Discontinuity-like approach and assess
whether households experience any significant shift in relative standard housework
shares. We exploit data obtained by the Generations and Gender Program to
compare heterosexual couples that have just given birth to their first child to those
who are about to do so and look at work sharing on seven different household tasks.
We find mixed evidence: when we consider a very narrow time window around the
event of birth, our estimates suggest that couples share tasks more equally in the
time after birth. On the other hand, when switching to a broader bandwidth of 48
months, birth effects fade out as there are no significant estimates and, if anything,
trends in the data suggest a gradual deepening of the gendered housework labor
division as time passes. We relate our findings to both measured labor market
outcomes and descriptive statistics on childcare and expand the analysis by running
a heterogeneity check of our estimates by first splitting the sample according to
geographical region and subsequently according to the relative education levels
between the partners. We fail to find heterogeneous effects for the latter, while the
regional analysis shows that the results are sensitive to which countries we consider.
Furthermore, mothers reduce their employment and hours supplied to paid work
relative to childless women. Lastly, fathers show an increased probability of labor
force participation in the period after childbirth. | en_US |
