This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. ASSA Annual Meeting
  3. 2022
  4. Preliminary Program
  5. Women's Agency, Urbanisation and Wellbeing
« Back to Results

Women's Agency, Urbanisation and Wellbeing

Paper Session

Friday, Jan. 7, 2022 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM (EST)

Hosted By: International Association for Feminist Economics
  • Chair: Nidhiya Menon, Brandeis University

The Relationship between Gender Gaps and the Business Cycle

Denise Barth
,
DIW Berlin
Marius Clemens
,
DIW Berlin
Elke Holst
,
DIW Berlin

Abstract

"Business cycle fluctuations affect wages and labor supply of women and men differently. Using quarterly data for Germany between 1Q1995 to 4Q2020 we find that with the exception of the gender unemployment gap all other gender labor market gaps contract during a recession and widen during a boom on average. However, we also find the opposite relationship for some periods. These observations indicate that the type of the underlying shock influences gender gaps over the cycle.

In order to analyze this changing relationship of business cycle and gender gaps in Germany we implement gender-specific structural differences in a DSGE model with search and matching frictions. We consider that the structural labor market characteristics of men and women, i.e. labour supply elasticities, housework elasticity, affect the average cyclical dynamics of gender gaps. Furthermore, they react quite different depending on the underlying shock. Productivity and labour-supply driven shocks, a temporary decrease of homework productivity explain why the gender wage gap increase in a recession. In demand driven recessions the gender wage gap rather contracts.
"

Time and Income Poverty: Detecting Intersectional Differences Using Distributional Copulas

Franziska Dorn
,
University of Goettingen
Rosalba Radice
,
University of Goettingen
Giampiero Marra
,
University College London
Thomas Kneib
,
University of Goettingen

Abstract

Empirical research on poverty today often goes beyond a focus on income to consider other dimensions of well-being. However, relatively few multidimensional poverty measures explicitly consider time, despite its particular relevance to women's double burden of paid and unpaid work. Rather than relying on conventional univariate summaries, we use an empirical approach to construct a bivariate relative poverty line between income and leisure, based on their joint distribution in the population. As the strength of the dependence between income and leisure influences the vulnerability to poverty, we incorporate distributional regression into copula models to unpack the complexity of poverty among the intersection of gender and ethnicity. Utilizing the Mexican national survey of households, income and expenses from 2018, we estimate a difference of 10 percentage points between those who are defined as bidimensional poor compared to separate time and income measures. Specifically, education and the number of children increase the dependence structure for women but not for men. While indigenous women have the highest vulnerability of falling below the absolute poverty line, non-indigenous women are more likely of falling below the relative poverty line.

Gender, Motherhood, and Wages in India

Leila Gautham
,
University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Abstract

How is the effect of motherhood on gender wage inequality mediated by economic development and urbanization? Combining rich cross-sectional and panel data, this paper provides the first estimates for the effect of children on women’s wages in India, and the impact of children on gender wage inequality. I find substantial heterogeneity in this “motherhood penalty:” wage reductions following motherhood are large for urban women, but negligible for rural women. To explain this difference, I show that differences in the nature of work environments—in particular, the incidence of skilled, formal employment among urban women—play an important role in mediating the wage effects of reduced labor supply following childbirth. Economic development and urbanization affect the compatibility between childrearing and paid work, even as they may result in a convergence in gender differences in educational and occupational outcomes. This paper explores the contradictory effects of development and urbanization on gender inequality, using India as a case study.

Mining and Women's Agency: Evidence on Acceptance of Domestic Violence and Shared Decision-Making in India

Nidhiya Menon
,
Brandeis University
Amanda Guimbeau
,
Brandeis University
James Ji Ji
,
Brandeis University
Yana Rodgers
,
Rutgers University

Abstract

We study the impact of proximity to mineral deposits and active mines on women’s agency in India. Identification leverages the plausibly exogenous spatial variation in the occurrence of mineral deposits and mineral types across districts. Results indicate that women’s outcomes improve near mines: there is reduced acceptance of physical violence and women report fewer barriers to accessing healthcare. Concomitantly, men’s likelihood of making decisions jointly with spouses increases, and men are less likely to justify domestic violence. These benefits are larger near mines that employ relatively high shares of women. The key mechanism is the sharing of mining royalties with local groups to support investments in vulnerable populations, which contributes to better economic conditions for women. Findings imply that mineral mining can bring measurable benefits to women’s agency, especially when returns are invested in improving the welfare of local populations.
JEL Classifications
  • B0 - General
  • I0 - General