Gender-biased technological change: Milking machines and the exodus of women from farming

Philipp Ager, Goñi, Marc and Kjell G Salvanes

No 18290, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: This paper studies how gender-biased technological change in agriculture affected women's work in 20th-century Norway. After WWII, dairy farms began widely adopting milking machines to replace the hand milking of cows, a task typically performed by young women. We show that the adoption of milking machines pushed young rural women out of farming in dairy-intensive municipalities. The displaced women moved to cities where they acquired more education and found better-paid employment. Our results suggest that the adoption of milking machines broke up allocative inefficiencies across sectors, which improved the economic status of women relative to men.

JEL-codes: J16 J24 J43 J61 N34 O14 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-07
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Related works:
Journal Article: Gender-Biased Technological Change: Milking Machines and the Exodus of Women from Farming (2026)
Working Paper: Gender-Biased Technological Change: Milking Machines and the Exodus of Woman From Farming (2024)
Working Paper: Gender-biased technological change: Milking machines and the exodus of women from farming (2023)
Working Paper: Gender-Biased Technological Change: Milking Machines and the Exodus of Women from Farming (2023)
Working Paper: Gender-Biased Technological Change: Milking Machines and the Exodus of Women from Farming (2023)
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