Episodes
Thursday Apr 07, 2016
Thursday Apr 07, 2016
Maternity
leave policies have known effects on short-term child outcomes. However, little
is known about the long-run impact of such leaves on women’s health as they
age. This seminar examines whether maternity leave policies have an effect on
women's mental health in older age. Data for women age 50 years and above from
countries in the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) are
linked to data on maternity leave legislation from 1960 onwards. A
difference-in-differences approach that exploits changes over time within
countries in the duration and compensation of maternity leave benefits is
linked to the year women were giving birth to their first child at age 16 to
25. Late-life depressive symptom scores of mothers who were in employment in
the period around the birth of their first child were compared to depression
scores of mothers who were not in employment in the period surrounding the
birth of a first child and, therefore, did not benefit directly from maternity
leave benefits. The findings suggest that a more generous maternity leave
during the birth of a first child is associated with reduced depression
symptoms in late life. This seminar explores how policies experienced in
midlife may have long-run consequences for women’s health and wellbeing.
Speaker:
Lisa Berkman, Thomas
D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and of Epidemiology; Director, Harvard
Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard. T.H. Chan School of
Public Health
Thursday Mar 31, 2016
Thursday Mar 31, 2016
The return to work following the birth of a first child is often a period of time when new mothers are working towards mastering the tasks associated with caring for an infant and managing their workplace demands. New mothers may consider leaving their organization if they question their ability to either effectively perform their job or their parenting roles. Drawing from social support and social comparison theories, this seminar explores how supportive work environments shape new mothers’ turnover intention. Using a sample of 695 new mothers who had recently returned to work following the birth of their first child, Ladge finds evidence that perceived manager support and role models who portray work and family balance influence both job and maternal self-efficacies, which contribute to new mothers’ turnover intentions.
Speaker: Jamie Ladge, Associate Professor of Management and Organizational Development, D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University
Monday Feb 29, 2016
Two Decades of Gender-Role Attitude Change in Europe with Mary Brinton
Monday Feb 29, 2016
Monday Feb 29, 2016
Speaker: Mary C. Brinton, Reischauer Institute Professor of Sociology, Harvard University
Friday Nov 20, 2015
Friday Nov 20, 2015
Gender Inequality persists to varying degrees across post-industrial economies. The seminar introduces the new Weatherhead Initiative at Harvard to study comparative gender inequality in OECD countries and outlines some of the major scholarly and policy challenges relating to the structure of work and its articulation with the family.
Thursday Sep 17, 2015
Thursday Sep 17, 2015
Paternity leave, men's role in childcare, and their work-life balance have become more commonly discussed topics by policymakers and business leaders. What kinds of policies succeed in getting fathers involved in their children's lives from the beginning? What are the long-term consequences for families, in terms of fathers' and mothers' careers, incomes, and the division of household labor at home? In this seminar, Ankita Patnaik discusses how parental leave schemes can be designed to induce fathers to participate and whether small changes in the initial parenting experience can have lasting effects on both parents' behavior. She presents findings from a study that shows that even a few weeks of paternity leave can have a large and persistent impact on sex specialization in the long-term by encouraging a more equal distribution of household responsibilities. Speaker: Ankita Patnaik, Researcher, Mathematica Policy Research
Thursday Apr 09, 2015
Thursday Apr 09, 2015
How does exposure during childhood to non-traditional gender role models—working mothers and female parliamentarians—shape men’s and women’s outcomes at work and at home? Across 25 countries, women, but not men, exposed to non-traditional gender role models during childhood are more likely to be employed, more likely to hold supervisory responsibility if employed, and earn higher wages than women whose mothers were home full time. At home, exposure to non-traditional models increases the time men contribute to housework and caring for family members and decreases the time women spend on housework. This research exposes the power of non-traditional gender role models within families and countries as critical factors for reducing gender inequality in labor markets and households around the globe. SPEAKER: Kathleen L. McGinn, Cahners-Rabb Professor of Business Administration; Chair, Doctoral Program, Harvard Business School