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Welfare Family Policies and Gender Earnings Inequality: A Cross-National Comparative Analysis

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  • Moshe Semyonov
  • Hadas Mandel

Abstract

The present study examines whether and to what extent welfare-family policies are likely to affect earnings inequality between economically active men and women. Using hierarchical linear models, we combine individual-level variables (obtained from the Luxembourg Income Study) with country level data (obtained from secondary sources) to evaluate the net effects of welfare family policies on gender earnings inequality across 20 industrialized countries. The analysis reveals that net of individual-level characteristics, gender-earnings disparities are likely to be less pronounced in states characterized by developed welfare-family policies. However, when differences in the earnings structure across countries are controlled and eliminated, we find that family policies do not exert a significant net effect on earnings disparities between men and women. The apparent insignificant effect is a result of two opposite effects that offset one another. Specifically, the narrowing effect of family policy on gender earnings inequality is offset by the opposite effect of gender based occupational segregation. These findings clearly expose the unintended implications of protective family policies, namely, a more gender segregated labor market, and its detrimental implications for earnings inequality between men and women. The contradictory effects of welfare-state policies on gender earnings inequality are discussed and evaluated in light of sociological theories on the role of welfare policies in contemporary societies.

Suggested Citation

  • Moshe Semyonov & Hadas Mandel, 2003. "Welfare Family Policies and Gender Earnings Inequality: A Cross-National Comparative Analysis," LIS Working papers 364, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
  • Handle: RePEc:lis:liswps:364
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    Cited by:

    1. Asplund, Rita & Napari, Sami, 2011. "Intangible capital and wages: An analysis of wage gaps across occupations and genders in Czech Republic, Finland and Norway," Discussion Papers 1248, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    2. Kyo-seong Kim & Yongwoo Lee & Yu-jeong Lee, 2010. "A Multilevel Analysis of Factors Related to Poverty in Welfare States," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 99(3), pages 391-404, December.
    3. Landivar, Liana Christin, 2017. "The Gender Gap in Employment Hours: Do Work-Hour Regulations Matter?," SocArXiv xbwnj, Center for Open Science.

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