Well-being, time use, and women's empowerment after couple separation: Longitudinal evidence for Uruguay

Although many studies have assessed the effects of union dissolution on access to economic resources, on economic outcomes for adults, particularly custodial mothers, and on a broad set of educational and socioemotional outcomes for children, there is less literature analysing changes in other domains of women's quality of life that might be affected when couple separation occurs in households with small children. In this study, we analyse the effects of union dissolution (divorce and couple separation) on women's well-being and empowerment in the short run, based on two waves of Encuesta de Nutrición, Desarrollo Infantil y Salud (ENDIS), an official longitudinal study that followed Uruguayan households with children who were age 0 to 3 years in 2013. Specifically, we assess the effects of separation on economic and subjective well-being, time use and household workload, empowerment, and attitudes towards gender norms. To control for the potential selectivity of union dissolution, we carry out a combined PSM/difference-in-difference estimation. We find that, for women who are custodial mothers, union dissolution entails, on average, a net per capita household income loss of 29%, an increase in paid labour effort, and a decrease in time devoted to household work. At the same time, empowerment and traditional gender norms are scarcely affected by union dissolution, though equalizing gender norm attitudes predict union dissolution. After ruling out a set of potential channels related to substitution effects (such as increased school attendance, seeking help from relatives, or hiring domestic workers) that might explain the decrease in household workload, we provide suggestive evidence on the role of loosened gender norms following the exit of a male household member or more structured care arrangements with non-coresident fathers that needs to be tested in further research.