IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/90261.html

The 'mighty girl' effect: does parenting daughters alter attitudes towards gender norms?

Author

Listed:
  • Borrell-Porta, Mireia
  • Costa-Font, Joan
  • Philipp, Julia

Abstract

We study the effect of parenting daughters on attitudes towards gender norms in the UK; specifically, attitudes towards the traditional male breadwinner norm in which it is the husband's role to work and the wife's to stay at home. We find robust evidence that rearing daughters decreases fathers' likelihood to hold traditional attitudes. This result is driven by fathers of school-aged daughters, for whom the effects are robust to the inclusion of individual fixed effects. Our estimates suggest that fathers' probability to support traditional gender norms declines by approximately 3%age points (8%) when parenting primary school-aged daughters and by 4%age points (11%) when parenting secondary school-aged daughters. The effect on mothers' attitudes is generally not statistically significant. These findings are consistent with exposure and identity theories. We conclude that gender norm attitudes are not stable throughout the life-course and can significantly be shaped by adulthood experiences.

Suggested Citation

  • Borrell-Porta, Mireia & Costa-Font, Joan & Philipp, Julia, 2019. "The 'mighty girl' effect: does parenting daughters alter attitudes towards gender norms?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 90261, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:90261
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/90261/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Iacovou, Maria, 2001. "Fertility and female labour supply," ISER Working Paper Series 2001-19, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    2. Andrew J. Oswald & Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2010. "Daughters and Left-Wing Voting," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(2), pages 213-227, May.
    3. Gordon B. Dahl & Enrico Moretti, 2008. "The Demand for Sons," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 75(4), pages 1085-1120.
    4. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/8650 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Shelly Lundberg, 2005. "Sons, Daughters, and Parental Behaviour," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 340-356, Autumn.
    6. Pia Schober & Jacqueline Scott, 2012. "Maternal employment and gender role attitudes: dissonance among British men and women in the transition to parenthood," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 26(3), pages 514-530, June.
    7. David W. Johnston & Stefanie Schurer & Michael A. Shields, 2014. "Maternal gender role attitudes, human capital investment, and labour supply of sons and daughters," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 66(3), pages 631-659.
    8. Stephanie Seguino, 2007. "PlusCa Change? evidence on global trends in gender norms and stereotypes," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 1-28.
    9. John Fitzgerald & Peter Gottschalk & Robert Moffitt, 1998. "An Analysis of Sample Attrition in Panel Data: The Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 33(2), pages 251-299.
    10. Ann Bartel & Maya Rossin-Slater & Christopher Ruhm & Jenna Stearns & Jane Waldfogel, 2015. "Paid Family Leave, Fathers’ Leave-Taking, and Leave-Sharing in Dual-Earner Households," NBER Working Papers 21747, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Ebonya L. Washington, 2008. "Female Socialization: How Daughters Affect Their Legislator Fathers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(1), pages 311-332, March.
    12. Adam N. Glynn & Maya Sen, 2015. "Identifying Judicial Empathy: Does Having Daughters Cause Judges to Rule for Women's Issues?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 59(1), pages 37-54, January.
    13. George A. Akerlof & Rachel E. Kranton, 2000. "Economics and Identity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 715-753.
    14. Ann Berrington & Yongjian Hu & Peter W. F. Smith & Patrick Sturgis, 2008. "A graphical chain model for reciprocal relationships between women's gender role attitudes and labour force participation," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 171(1), pages 89-108, January.
    15. Michael C Burda & Daniel S Hamermesh & Philippe Weil, 2007. "Total Work, Gender and Social Norms," Working Papers hal-00972818, HAL.
    16. Choi, Hyung-Jai & Joesch, Jutta M. & Lundberg, Shelly, 2008. "Sons, daughters, wives, and the labour market outcomes of West German men," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 795-811, October.
    17. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/8651 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Becketti, Sean & Gould, William & Lillard, Lee & Welch, Finis, 1988. "The Panel Study of Income Dynamics after Fourteen Years: An Evaluatio n," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(4), pages 472-492, October.
    19. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/8650 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia & Jennifer Ward-Batts, 2007. "The Effect of Child Gender on Parents' Labor Supply: An Examination of Natives, Immigrants, and their Children," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 402-406, May.
    21. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/8651 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2007-058 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Alessandra Fogli & Raquel Fernandez, 2009. "Culture: An Empirical Investigation of Beliefs, Work, and Fertility," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 146-177, January.
    24. Nicole M Fortin, 2005. "Gender Role Attitudes and the Labour-market Outcomes of Women across OECD Countries," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 416-438, Autumn.
    25. Amar Hamoudi & Jenna Nobles, 2014. "Do Daughters Really Cause Divorce? Stress, Pregnancy, and Family Composition," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(4), pages 1423-1449, August.
    26. Raquel Fernández & Alessandra Fogli & Claudia Olivetti, 2004. "Mothers and Sons: Preference Formation and Female Labor Force Dynamics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(4), pages 1249-1299.
    27. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn & Peter Brummund & Jason Cook & Miriam Larson-Koester, 2020. "Is there still son preference in the United States?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 709-750, July.
    28. Ichino, Andrea & Lindström, Elly-Ann & Viviano, Eliana, 2014. "Hidden consequences of a first-born boy for mothers," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 274-278.
    29. Shelly Lundberg & Elaina Rose, 2002. "The Effects Of Sons And Daughters On Men'S Labor Supply And Wages," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(2), pages 251-268, May.
    30. Rebecca Pearse & Raewyn Connell, 2016. "Gender Norms and the Economy: Insights from Social Research," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 30-53, January.
    31. Guy Moors, 2003. "Estimating the Reciprocal Effect of Gender Role Attitudes and Family Formation: A Log-linear Path Model with Latent Variables," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 199-221, June.
    32. Lídia Farré & Francis Vella, 2013. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Gender Role Attitudes and its Implications for Female Labour Force Participation," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 80(318), pages 219-247, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Borrell Porta, Mireia & Contreras Silva, Valentina & Costa-Font, Joan, 2023. "Is employment during motherhood a ‘value changing experience’?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118054, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Somville, Vincent, 2019. "Having a Daughter Reduces Male Violence Against a Partner," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 24/2019, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    3. Eiji Yamamura, 2021. "Granddaughter and voting for a female candidate," Papers 2102.13464, arXiv.org.
    4. van Lent, Max, 2022. "Fathering Daughters and Personality," IZA Discussion Papers 15012, IZA Network @ LISER.
    5. Mette Gørtz & Ida L. Kristiansen & Tianyi Wang, 2024. "The Power of Daughters: How Physicians' Family Influences Female Patients' Health," NBER Working Papers 33146, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Xiaodong Sun & Kaisheng Lai & Hong Han & Chenyan Yang, 2023. "Could Children’s Gender Predict Their Parents’ Housework Behavior?," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, July.
    7. M. Niaz Asadullah & Elisabetta De Cao & Fathema Zhura Khatoon & Zahra Siddique, 2021. "Measuring gender attitudes using list experiments," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(2), pages 367-400, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mireia Borrell-Porta & Joan Costa-Font & Julia Philipp, 2019. "The ‘mighty girl’ effect: does parenting daughters alter attitudes towards gender norms?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 71(1), pages 25-46.
    2. Elena Grinza & Francesco Devicienti & Mariacristina Rossi & Davide Vannoni, 2017. "How Entry into Parenthood Shapes Gender Role Attitudes: New Evidence from Longitudinal UK Data," Working papers 042, Department of Economics, Social Studies, Applied Mathematics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino.
    3. Cavapozzi, Danilo & Francesconi, Marco & Nicoletti, Cheti, 2021. "The impact of gender role norms on mothers’ labor supply," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 113-134.
    4. Francesconi, Marco & Nicoletti, Cheti & Cavapozzi, Danilo, 2021. "The Impact of Gender Role Norms on Mothers’ Labor Supply," CEPR Discussion Papers 15957, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Andrea Ichino & Martin Olsson & Barbara Petrongolo & Peter Skogman Thoursie, 2019. "Economic incentives, home production and gender identity norms," CEP Discussion Papers dp1626, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    6. Ichino, Andrea & Olsson, Martin & Petrongolo, Barbara & Skogman Thoursie, Peter, 2019. "Economic Incentives, Childcare and Gender Identity Norms," Working Paper Series 1283, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 04 May 2021.
    7. Mireia Borrell-Porta & Valentina Contreras & Joan Costa-i-Font, 2021. "Is 'Employment during Motherhood' a 'Value Changing Experience'?," CESifo Working Paper Series 9222, CESifo.
    8. Bertrand, Marianne, 2011. "New Perspectives on Gender," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 17, pages 1543-1590, Elsevier.
    9. Cavapozzi, Danilo & Francesconi, Marco & Nicoletti, Cheti, 2024. "Dividing Housework between Partners: Individual Preferences and Social Norms," IZA Discussion Papers 17370, IZA Network @ LISER.
    10. Bredtmann, Julia & Otten, Sebastian, 2025. "Natives’ gender norms and the labor market integration of female immigrants," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    11. De Paola, Maria & Lombardo, Rosetta & Pupo, Valeria & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2021. "Do Women Shy Away from Public Speaking? A Field Experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    12. Pogrebna, Ganna & Oswald, Andrew J. & Haig, David, 2018. "Female babies and risk-aversion: Causal evidence from hospital wards," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 10-17.
    13. Maria Knoth Humlum & Anne Brink Nandrup & Nina Smith, 2019. "Closing or reproducing the gender gap? Parental transmission, social norms and education choice," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 455-500, April.
    14. Gabriella Berloffa & Eleonora Matteazzi & Alina Şandor & Paola Villa, 2019. "Mothers’ and children’s employment in Europe. A comparative analysis," DEM Working Papers 2019/14, Department of Economics and Management.
    15. Sreevidya Ayyar & Uta Bolt & Eric French & Cormac O'Dea, 2024. "Imagine your life at 25: Gender conformity and later-life outcomes," IFS Working Papers W24/32, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    16. Younghwan Song & Jia Gao, 2023. "Do fathers have son preference in the United States? Evidence from paternal subjective well-being," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 1083-1117, September.
    17. Huichao Du & Yun Xiao & Liqiu Zhao, 2021. "Education and gender role attitudes," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(2), pages 475-513, April.
    18. Evangelia Papapetrou & Pinelopi Tsalaporta, 2017. "Is there a case for intergenerational transmission of female labour force participation and educational attainment? Evidence from Greece during the crisis," Working Papers 223, Bank of Greece.
    19. May Gadallah & Maia Sieverding & Rania Roushdy, 2017. "The Effect of Mothers’ Employment on Youth Gender Role Attitudes: Evidence From Egypt," Working Papers 1125, Economic Research Forum, revised 08 Oct 2017.
    20. Hwang, Jisoo & Lee, Chulhee & Lee, Esther, 2019. "Gender norms and housework time allocation among dual-earner couples," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 102-116.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:90261. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.