'Motherhood penalty' and 'fatherhood premium'? Fertility effects on parents in China

Zheng Mu · Yu Xie

52 citations0/0 files storedDemographic Research

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Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics Family Dynamics and Relationships Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Many previous empirical findings on 'motherhood penalty' and 'fatherhood premium' remain inconclusive due to potential selection biases. China's regional variation in exemptions to the one-child policy enables us to use the gender of the first child as a powerful instrumental variable (IV) in identifying the gendered fertility effects. OBJECTIVE: We aim to estimate the causal effects of fertility on fathers' and mothers' various outcomes in China. METHODS: Using the IV approach, this paper examines the gender-specific fertility effects on parents' time use, income, and subjective well-being, using data for 2010 from the China Family Panel Studies. RESULTS: Results show that while fathers spend more time at work and less time taking care of family members with more children, mothers report better subjective well-being. Moreover, fathers gain self-confidence in both their careers and the future, and mothers are happier, more satisfied with life and report better social ability. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings do not directly support the gendered fertility effects on parents. However, the differential fertility effects on specific domains for mothers versus fathers are consistent with household specialisation. By interpreting this conclusion within the context of China's one-child family planning policy, our research suggests that parents would do better if the one-child policy were abolished - i.e., if parents were allowed to have more children.

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References

1991A Treatise on the Family 1972The Statistical Theory of Racism and Sexism.2012The Second Shift: Working Families and the Revolution at Home 1957The Economics of Discrimination 1985Human Capital, Effort, and the Sexual Division of Labor 2001The Wage Penalty for Motherhood 1990The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home 1996Children and Their Parents' Labor Supply: Evidence from Exogenous Variation in Family Size

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