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  • June 2019
  • Article
  • Work, Employment and Society

Learning From Mum: Cross-National Evidence Linking Maternal Employment and Adult Children’s Outcomes

By: Kathleen L. McGinn, Mayra Ruiz Castro and Elizabeth Long Lingo
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Abstract

Analyses relying on two international surveys from over 100,000 men and women across 29 countries explore the relationship between maternal employment and adult daughters’ and sons’ employment and domestic outcomes. In the employment sphere, adult daughters, but not sons, of employed mothers are more likely to be employed and, if employed, are more likely to hold supervisory responsibility, work more hours and earn higher incomes than their peers whose mothers were not employed. In the domestic sphere, sons raised by employed mothers spend more time caring for family members and daughters spend less time on housework. Analyses provide evidence for two mechanisms: gender attitudes and social learning. Finally, findings show contextual influences at the family and societal levels: family-of-origin social class moderates effects of maternal employment and childhood exposure to female employment within society can substitute for the influence of maternal employment on daughters and reinforce its influence on sons.

Keywords

Female Labor Force Participation; Gender Attitudes; Household Labor; Maternal Employment; Social Class; Social Learning Theory; Social Mobility; Employment; Gender; Attitudes; Household; Labor; Learning; Outcome or Result

Citation

McGinn, Kathleen L., Mayra Ruiz Castro, and Elizabeth Long Lingo. "Learning From Mum: Cross-National Evidence Linking Maternal Employment and Adult Children’s Outcomes." Work, Employment and Society 33, no. 3 (June 2019): 374–400.
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About The Author

Kathleen L. McGinn

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
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  • Not Everyone’s Cup of Coffee: Organizing the Café Industry By: Jillian J. Jordan, Anoushka Kiyawat and Kathleen McGinn
  • Teaching Note for Río Curicó: A Six-Party Negotiation Exercise By: Julian Zlatev, Kathleen McGinn and Rachel Drapper
  • Teaching Note for Endesa Chile: Raising the Ralco Dam By: Julian Zlatev, Kathleen L. McGinn, Katherine Chen and Rachel Drapper
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