Changing Gender Norms across Generations: Evidence from a Paternity Leave Reform

Lidia Farre, Christina Felfe, Libertad Gonzalez and Patrick Schneider ()
Additional contact information
Patrick Schneider: University of Würzburg

No 16341, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Social norms are an important barrier to gender convergence. We show that public policy designed to promote gender equality at home can pave the way towards gender convergence by shaping gender norms in the next generation. We combine the introduction of paternity leave in Spain with a large-scale lab-in-the field experiment in secondary schools. Following a local difference-in-differences approach, we show that children born after the policy change exhibit more gender egalitarian attitudes and perceive less stereotypical social norms. They are also more likely to engage in counter-stereotypical day-to-day behaviors and to deviate from the male-breadwinner model in the future.

Keywords: gender equality; gender norms; paternity leave permits (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J08 J13 J16 J18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 57 pages
Date: 2023-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-eur, nep-exp, nep-lab and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Changing Gender Norms across Generations: Evidence from a Paternity Leave Reform (2022)
Working Paper: Changing gender norms across generations: Evidence from a paternity leave reform (2022)
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