Women’s employment transitions The influence of her, his, and joint gender ideologies

• Published in: Demographic research Vol. 45; pp. 55 - 86
• Main Authors: Grunow, Daniela, Lietzmann, Torsten
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Rostock Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Wissenschaften 01.07.2021; Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research; Max Planck Institut für Demografische Forschung
• Subjects: Beliefs, opinions and attitudes; Career development; Career transitions; Constellations; Couples; Egalitarianism; Employment; Essentialism; Female-male relations; Feminism; Forecasts and trends; Gender; Gender differences; Gender role attitudes; Gender roles; Hypotheses; Ideology; Influence; Joining; Labor force participation; Labor market; Probability; Regression analysis; Regression models; Research Article; Sex role; Social aspects; Social security; Statistical analysis; Women; Womens employment; Work; Working hours; Working women; Germany; United Kingdom > UK; England; United States > US
• ISSN: 1435-9871; 1435-9871; 2363-7064
• DOI: 10.4054/demres.2021.45.3

The authors seek to advance research on the effects of gender ideologies on paid work transitions conceptually, arguing that a couple's (dis)agreement on gender ideologies may be important. The authors use data from the German panel study Labour Market and Social Security (PASS) and logistic regression models estimating the probability of reducing work hours or taking an employment break between two successive panel waves. Women's gender ideologies impact their likelihood of reducing work hours and taking an employment break. The more egalitarian women are, the less likely they are to reduce their labor market participation. The male partner's gender ideology initially appears irrelevant. However, when considering the couple as a unit, the authors find a couple effect of joint ideology: Women are more likely to reduce their work hours when both partners believe in gender essentialism as opposed to other couple-ideology constellations. For women's employment breaks, findings also point to a couple-ideology effect, though with less statistical certainty. The couple perspective shows that his gender ideology matters only in relation to hers.