TY  - JOUR
AU  - Albanesi,Stefania
AU  - Olivetti,Claudia
TI  - Gender Roles and Technological Progress
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13179
PY  - 2007
Y2  - June 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13179
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13179.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Stefania Albanesi
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
33 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10045
Tel: 212 720 5443
E-Mail: stefania.albanesi@gmail.com

Claudia Olivetti
Boston University
Department of Economics
270 Bay State Road
Boston, MA 02215
Tel: 617/613-1228
Fax: 617/353-4449
E-Mail: olivetti@bu.edu
AB  - Until the early decades of the 20th century, women spent more than 60% of their prime- age years either pregnant or nursing. Since then, improved medical knowledge and obstetric practices reduced the time cost associated with women's reproductive role. The introduction of infant formula also reduced women's comparative advantage in infant care, by providing an effective breast milk substitute. Our hypothesis is that these developments enabled married women to increase their participation in the labor force, thus providing the incentive to invest in market skills, potentially narrowing gender earnings differentials. We document these changes and develop a quantitative model that aims to capture their impact. Our results suggest that progress in medical technologies related to motherhood was essential to generate the significant rise in the participation of married women between 1920 and 1960, in particular those with children. By enabling women to reconcile work and motherhood, these medical advancements laid the ground for the revolutionary change in women's economic role.
ER  -