The study is focused on the topic of integenerational transmission of views on choice of occupation in the gender context.

1. Fathers matter!
The role of parents in gender occupational segregation
Magdalena Smyk
University of Warsaw
24th March 2017
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2. Gender differences in occupation
Why is it interesting?
common and prevailing phenomenon
(Goldin, 2013, 2014; Blau et al. 2013)
contributes to explain gender wage differences
(World Development Report, 2012)
“external” barriers and changes fail to explain it
(Bush and Holst 2011; Blau et al. 1998, 2013)
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3. Motivation
Gender differences in the choice of occupation:
preferences
scientifically unsatisfactory explanation
(Becker 1996, Argwal 2000)
traits (risk aversion, competitiveness, altruism, etc.)
(Holt and Laury 2005, Niederle and Vesterlund 2011, Andreoni 1989)
small explanatory power
nature or nurture?
(Finucane et al. 2000, Gneezy et al. 2009)
still unresolved
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4. Contribution
The role of parents:
inheritance of a profession
(Laband and Lentz 1990, Korupp et al. 2002)
transmision of rules related to choice of occupation - literature gap
Hypothesis
Parents’ gender rules related to choice of occupation (recognized by
their own choices) influence their children’s choices of occupation.
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5. Theoretical background
Roy’s choice of occupation model (1951)
Gender identity (Akerlof and Kranton 2000, 2010)
Choice of occupation (Humlum et al. 2012)
Uj = Uj (wj ( j , εj )), εj , Ij ( j , cj , εj , P)),
where wj ( j , εj ) - wage in occupation εj , j - individual characteristics, cj -
social category (gender), P - gender rules related to choice of occupation
Operationalize P - gender rules as a function of j and parents (p)
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6. Theoretical background - extension
How the gender norms are shaped?
Pj = Pj (aj , a−j , cj , j , Pj,p),
where aj - actions of individual j, a−j - actions of other people, cj - gender, j -
individual characteristics, Pj,p - parents’ gender rules
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7. Measure of gender intensity in an occupation
FemOcc Index
FemOcci,t =
share of womeni,t
share of woment
,
where i – narrow occupational group, t – year
representation measure ⇒ data requirements
American Community Survey provides the largest consistently coded sample
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8. Measure of gender intensity in an occupation
FemOcc Index
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9. Measure of gender intensity in an occupation
FemOcc Index
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10. Measure of gender intensity in an occupation
FemOcc Index
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11. Transmission of norms related to the choice of occupation: the empirical
study
Do parents transmit gender rules related to choice of
occupation to their children?
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12. Strategy
FemOcci = α + β1 Father s FemOcc + β2 Mother s FemOcci + γ Xi + i
Variables
Dependent variable: gender intensity of the occupation of an
individual i (FemOcci )
Independent variables:
Father s FemOcc - gender intensity of i’s father occupation
Mother s FemOcc - gender intensity of i’s mother occupation
Control variables (Xi ): gender, education, education of parents, birth
year, race, siblings order
Data: Panel Study of Income Dynamics 1968-2013 merged with
measures of FemOcci from ACS
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13. Transmission of rules related to choice of occupation
Panel Study of Income Dynamics Data 1968-2013
Multiple occupations for parents and children:
two specifications of parents occupations:
observed by the child between 13 and 18 years old
“best” occupation - the highest number in occupational coding
child occupation: the “best” one - with the highest code
Inactive parents
Method
linear regression (OLS)
standard errors clustered within family
family fixed effects included
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14. Transmission of rules related to choice of occupation
What do we expect?
Correlation between FemOcc indexes of:
father and son - positive
mother and son - negative (but possibly weaker)
mother and daughter - positive
father and daughter - negative (but possibly weaker)
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15. Transmission of rules related to choice of occupation
Specification: parents’ occupations observed by the child between 13 and
18 years old
Total Without Only Only different
sample the same siblings gender
occupation siblings
FATHER - SON 0.081*** 0.065*** 0.072*** 0.078***
(0.021) (0.021) (0.022) (0.026)
MOTHER - SON 0.020 0.020 0.019 0.014
(0.021) (0.021) (0.022) (0.027)
MOTHER - DAUGHTER 0.005 -0.011 -0.021 -0.014
(0.030) (0.030) (0.032) (0.037)
FATHER - DAUGHTER -0.097*** -0.085*** -0.084*** -0.080***
(0.028) (0.028) (0.029) (0.035)
Observations 6,390 6,224 5,751 4,276
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16. Transmission of rules related to choice of occupation
Specification: parents’ top occupations
Total Without Only Only different
sample the same siblings gender
occupation siblings
FATHER - SON 0.045** 0.026 0.032 0.006
(0.019) (0.019) (0.020) (0.024)
MOTHER - SON 0.021 0.012 0.013 0.003
(0.023) (0.023) (0.025) (0.031)
MOTHER - DAUGHTER 0.016 0.001 -0.004 -0.002
(0.032) (0.032) (0.035) (0.042)
FATHER - DAUGHTER -0.076*** -0.065** -0.076*** -0.060*
(0.026) (0.026) (0.027) (0.033)
Observations 7,633 7,449 6,690 4,891
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17. Conclusions
Robustness checks:
Placebo tests
Do parents transmit gender rules related to choice of occupation to
their children?
Results:
Transmission from father to daughter - confirmed (the strongest)
Transmission from father to son - observed only between observed
and top occupation
Transmission from mother - rejected for both daughters and sons
Next steps:
more tests! (index, specifications etc.)
replication for Europe
possible explanations - within household work sharing, etc.
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18. Thank you for your attention
Magdalena Smyk
University of Warsaw
msmyk@wne.uw.edu.pl
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