Vida Maralani, Associate Professor of Sociology, Cornell University, presents, “Early childhood investments and women’s employment across the life course”

In the U.S., early childhood investments such as breastfeeding and daily reading are strongly promoted by pediatricians and public health campaigns as critical investments in children’s health and cognitive development. Qualitative research on gender, work, and family shows that women unambiguously find these investments difficult to combine with paid work. This study uses a nationally representative sample and an event study design to examine how breastfeeding intensity and reading daily to young children shape mothers’ labor supply, wages, and job characteristics over the short and long term in the U.S. The analyses ask: Do women who make these investments more intensively work less? How long does the association between these investments and women’s work persist over the woman’s life course? Are there socioeconomic differences in how these activities intersect with paid work? The analyses measure the ways in which women change their labor supply and work characteristics in order to pursue these practices (anticipatory behavior), and differences in the long-term career trajectories of women who do and do not pursue these investments. We also examine how family socioeconomic status moderates the relationship between these childhood investments and women’s short- and long-term work outcomes.

Event Date
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Venue
Zoom Seminar. Please contact laura.satterfield@duke.edu to obtain Seminar Link. 
Event Type