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Do Values Matter? The Impact of Work Ethic and Traditional Gender Role Values on Female Labour Market Supply

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  • Kirsten Stam
  • Ellen Verbakel
  • Paul Graaf

Abstract

This article aims to gain a better understanding of the explanatory value of work ethic and traditional gender role values with regard to variation in female labour market supply. Although women’s labour market participation has increased dramatically over the past decades, it still lacks behind that of men. A high female participation rate is desirable for several reasons, for instance to cover rising costs due to the ageing of society. The existing literature has mostly focused on micro-economic and macro factors to explain differences between women in participation rate. However, more recently it has been argued that women’s values may also play an important role in women’s labour market decisions. Work ethic, expressing the moral duty to work in terms of paid employment, is argued to positively affect women’s labour supply. However, it is argued that it can have negative implications too if women who hold more traditional gender role values interpret work and work ethic in terms of housework or in terms of paid employment for men only. This exemplifies the need to study both values at the same time. We used longitudinal Dutch data (LISS panel, 2007–2010) and estimated both cross-sectional and longitudinal models. Both types of models revealed a similar pattern: work ethic is positively associated with women’s labour market participation, but only if we take into account women’s gender role values, which negatively relate to women’s labour market supply. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Kirsten Stam & Ellen Verbakel & Paul Graaf, 2014. "Do Values Matter? The Impact of Work Ethic and Traditional Gender Role Values on Female Labour Market Supply," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 116(2), pages 593-610, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:116:y:2014:i:2:p:593-610
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-013-0287-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Torsten Lietzmann & Corinna Frodermann, 2023. "Gender Role Attitudes and Labour Market Behaviours: Do Attitudes Contribute to Gender Differences in Employment in Germany?," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(2), pages 373-393, April.
    2. Daniela Grunow & Torsten Lietzmann, 2021. "Women's employment transitions: The influence of her, his, and joint gender ideologies," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(3), pages 55-86.
    3. repec:agg:journl:3392 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Selina Gangl & Martin Huber, 2021. "From homemakers to breadwinners? How mandatory kindergarten affects maternal labour market outcomes," Papers 2111.14524, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2022.
    5. Gangl, Selina & Huber, Martin, 2021. "From homemakers to breadwinners? How mandatory kindergarten affects maternal labour market attachment," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203636, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association, revised 2021.
    6. Wouter van Gent & Marjolijn Das & Sako Musterd, 2019. "Sociocultural, economic and ethnic homogeneity in residential mobility and spatial sorting among couples," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(4), pages 891-912, June.
    7. Marja Hult & Minna Kaarakainen & Deborah De Moortel, 2023. "Values, Health and Well-Being of Young Europeans Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-22, March.
    8. Giulia M Dotti Sani & Stefani Scherer, 2018. "Maternal Employment: Enabling Factors in Context," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 32(1), pages 75-92, February.
    9. Veldboer, Lex & Kleinhans, Reinout & van Ham, Maarten, 2015. "Mandatory Volunteer Work as Fair Reciprocity for Unemployment and Social Benefits?," IZA Discussion Papers 9111, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Kirsten Stam & Inge Sieben & Ellen Verbakel & Paul M de Graaf, 2016. "Employment status and subjective well-being: the role of the social norm to work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 30(2), pages 309-333, April.
    11. Bernhard Kittel & Fabian Kalleitner & Panos Tsakloglou, 2019. "The Transmission of Work Centrality within the Family in a Cross-Regional Perspective," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 682(1), pages 106-124, March.
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    13. Tanja Lippe & Zoltán Lippényi, 2020. "Beyond Formal Access: Organizational Context, Working From Home, and Work–Family Conflict of Men and Women in European Workplaces," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 383-402, September.

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