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The 'Mighty Girl' Effect: Does Parenting Daughters Alter Attitudes towards Gender Roles?

Author

Listed:
  • Borrell-Porta, Mireia

    (London School of Economics)

  • Costa-Font, Joan

    (London School of Economics)

  • Philipp, Julia

    (London School of Economics)

Abstract

Understanding the malleability of gender norms is crucial to address gender inequalities. We study the effect of parenting daughters on a gender role attitude relating to the traditional male breadwinner model: whether the husband should earn and the wife stay at home. We control for other covariates that capture alternative explanations for gender role perceptions. Our results suggest evidence of a positive effect of parenting daughters on acceptance of less traditional gender roles. The effect is only robust among fathers and driven by parenting school age rather than younger daughters, which is consistent with a social identity explanation. Results suggest that parenting daughters of school age (as opposed to parenting only sons) increases the probability to disagree with the statement that 'husband should earn and wife stay at home' by over 5 percentage points. We conclude that gender role attitudes can be shaped by events that occur later in life.

Suggested Citation

  • Borrell-Porta, Mireia & Costa-Font, Joan & Philipp, Julia, 2018. "The 'Mighty Girl' Effect: Does Parenting Daughters Alter Attitudes towards Gender Roles?," IZA Discussion Papers 11259, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11259
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    1. Martín Leites & Gonzalo Salas, 2019. "Intergenerational transmission of preferences for redistribution," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 19-20, Instituto de Economía - IECON.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    daughters; maternal employment; attitude formation; gender roles; attitudes to gender roles;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

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

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