School Schedule and the Gender Pay Gap

Arbeitspapier

We provide causal evidence that children's school schedules contribute to the persistence of the gender pay gap between parents. Historically, French children have had no school on Wednesdays. In 2013, a reform reallocated some classes to Wednesday mornings. Exploiting variations in the application of this reform over time and across the age of the youngest child, we show that mothers are more likely to adopt a regular Monday-Friday full-time working schedule after the reform, while fathers' labor supply is unchanged. Consequently, the reform decreased the monthly gender pay gap by 6 percent, generating fiscal revenues that substantially outweigh its costs.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 13791

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; National Government Expenditures and Education ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth ; Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination ; Time Allocation and Labor Supply
• Subject: school schedule ; gender inequality ; female labor supply ; child penalty

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Duchini, Emma ; Van Effenterre, Clémentine
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2020

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/227318
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET