When babies and PhDs collide: a gendered story
Becoming a parent during doctoral training carries lasting career consequences, but not equally for women and men. Xinyi Zhao presents the results of a global study on 8,097 academic parents … Read more
gender equality
Socioeconomic inequalities and single women’s entry into parenthood in Belgium
Socioeconomic inequalities shape the ways in which people form families. Denise B. Musni and Christine Schnor show that these inequalities influence women’s likelihood of becoming a mother while single, but … Read more
Divergent pathways into adulthood in the Global South
Young people in the Global South are following increasingly diverse and ever-changing paths to adulthood. Yet, inequalities persist. Shelley Clark and Khandys Agnant show that despite impressive gains in female … Read more
What is fair in parenthood? Parents’ view of the division of labor
The transition to parenthood in Germany often results in a more gendered labor division, with women reducing paid work and increasing housework. Maria Hornung and Chiara L. Comolli examine how … Read more
Self-rated health trends by gender and race in the USA, 1972-2018
Are Americans feeling better or worse since the 1970s and does this pattern vary by gender and race? Jason L. Cummings explores U.S. trends in self-rated health inequalities over the … Read more
Occupational characteristics and the gender wage gap among parents in Europe
The gender wage gap persists, especially among mothers. Alícia Adserà and Federica Querin show that despite low wages in predominantly male occupations that depend on heavy machinery, women (and chiefly … Read more
Demographic and occupational change in Europe: gender, education, and age disparities
Over the last decades, the working population in Europe has become older, more feminized, and more educated. However, Álvaro Mariscal‐de‐Gante, Amaia Palencia‐Esteban, Sara Grubanov‐Boskovic and Enrique Fernández‐Macías argue that female occupational … Read more
The fertility effect of medically assisted reproduction in Australia
With rising infertility and increasing demand for fertility treatments globally, understanding the role of medically assisted reproduction (MAR) in population demographics and family formation patterns has never been more important. … Read more
Son preference and birth spacing in Pakistan
Rashid Javed and Mazhar Mughal investigate how son preference affects birth spacing in Pakistan. The impact they find is strong, with several negative consequences on the demographic transition of the … Read more
Children and (unequal) sharing of housework between partners in Hungary
In addition to their childcare responsibilities, women with young children often have to do more housework, thus making an already unequal balance even more skewed. Zsuzsanna Veroszta shows that, in … Read more
Does culture influence the gender division of housework and childcare?
Gender inequality in the division of housework persists. Elisa Brini, Anna Zamberlan and Paolo Barbieri investigate if cultural heritage is resistant to changes in socioeconomic and institutional environment by studying … Read more
Women’s economic empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa: what do we know?
The centrality of women’s economic empowerment in achieving the sustainable development goals has attracted high level policy interest. Data limitations impede knowledge of its extent in Africa. Demographic and health … Read more
The old and the new natalism are not at odds
Religion has historically been a pronatalist force, but because it fosters traditional gender role attitudes, it could impede a fertility recovery stimulated by gender equity. Instead, Laurie DeRose explains how … Read more
The within-gender gap: employment inequality among US mothers
Most accounts of women in the workforce focus on gender inequality. Ariel Binder1 provides a related, but often-ignored, discussion of inequality between more- and less-educated mothers. Policies that retrigger progress … Read more
Spain: a pioneer in gender-equal parental leave
Gender equality in child care can be promoted through individual entitlements to a non-transferable and well-paid leave of equal duration for women and men. While this design is still rare … Read more
Women’s employment 1996-2016: US vs Europe
Among OECD countries, the United States was once a leader in women’s labor force participation, but is now a laggard. Jennifer Hook and Eunjeong Paek compare trends in American and … Read more
The gender-cliff: Why women tend to earn less than their male partners
Women tend to earn less than their male partners, all over the world. André Grow and Jan Van Bavel show that this can easily be explained by combining the unequal … Read more
Dual earners’ parental employment strategies in Belgium
Even in Belgium, despite its strong work-family reconciliation policies, childbearing pushes couples towards more traditional gender roles: when one member of a couple exits the labour market or takes parental … Read more
Son preference and within-household bargaining position of Pakistani women
Rashid Javed and Mazhar Mughal analyze the effects of the pervasive phenomenon of son preference on Pakistani women’s participation in household decision-making. They find that women with at least one … Read more
Gender equality and fertility: is there a connection?
In the last decades, researchers have suggested that gender equality may have a positive effect on fertility in high-income countries. While this conjecture appears to be true cross-sectionally, it does … Read more