Does signaling childcare support on job applications reduce the motherhood penalty?

Arjun Bedi, Tanmoy Majilla () and Matthias Rieger
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Tanmoy Majilla: Indian Institute of Management, Vastrapur

Review of Economics of the Household, 2022, vol. 20, issue 2, No 2, 373-387

Abstract: Abstract There is substantial evidence that due to perceived childcare obligations, mothers are disadvantaged in labor markets. To what extent can childcare support ameliorate such a disadvantage? To answer this question, we ran a CV experiment in a large Indian city and examined whether indicating access to childcare support in a CV may offset the motherhood penalty associated with labor market entry. We randomly varied motherhood, as well as access to childcare in CVs sent to online applications for service sector jobs in Delhi. Indicating motherhood on a CV led to a 57% or 20 percentage point reduction in callback rates for interviews as compared to non-mothers. A simple indication of access to childcare support offsets the motherhood penalty by 20% or 4 percentage points. We interpret the findings in the Indian context and with respect to potential sources of discrimination.

Keywords: Motherhood penalty; Childcare; Audit experiment; India; J13; J16; J71; C93 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/s11150-021-09574-7

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