Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis: religion and female employment over time

Fischer, Justina A.V. and Pastore, Francesco (2016): Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis: religion and female employment over time.

Abstract

This study analyzes whether the role of religion for employment of women in Europe has changed over time and along women’s life cycles. Using information on 44’000 married European women from the World Values Survey, spanning more than thirty years (1981-2013), we find that over time the impact of religion on female employment has been changing. In Western Europe, behavioral differences across denominations seem to have disappeared since roughly 1997. In contrast, for Eastern Europe, we find that differences by religion have reemerged again particularly among young women. However, for women in Eastern Europe who are older than 40 years, religion plays no role – a finding that we attribute to an upbringing under secular communist regimes that strongly promoted gender equality in the labor market. Only Muslim women show a lower employment probability that persists across time, across regions, and across life cycles.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: religion; labor market participation; secularization; modernization; gender; Europe; transition countries; Eastern Europe; OECD; World Values Survey
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J16 - Economics of Gender ; Non-labor Discrimination; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J22 - Time Allocation and Labor Supply; N - Economic History > N3 - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy > N34 - Europe: 1913-; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z12 - Religion; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology ; Social and Economic Stratification

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