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How much do children really cost? Maternity benefits and career opportunities of women in academia

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Epifanio , Mariaelisa and Troeger, Vera E. (2013) How much do children really cost? Maternity benefits and career opportunities of women in academia. Working Paper. Coventry, UK: Department of Economics, University of Warwick. CAGE Online Working Paper Series, Volume 2013 (Number 171).

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Abstract

Motherhood and professional achievements appear as conflicting goals even for academic
women. This project explores this tension by focusing on a set of provisions on parental
and maternity leaves across 165 higher education institutions in the UK. Generous
maternity provisions generate countervailing incentives for female academics. On the one
hand, advantageous policies can foster women’s productivity in terms of research
outcomes allowing them to take time out of work without income and career break
concerns. On the other hand, women can exploit generous provisions without generating
returnable results for the academic institution. We argue that adverse selection problems
lead universities to differentiate among academic staff by offering two different types of
maternity provisions (more vs less generous maternity leaves) in order to “test” women’s
commitment and research ability before offering permanent contracts. Our results support
this this line of argumentation. We also find that generous maternity leaves and childcare
provisions positively affect the number of women at research and professorship levels.

Item Type: Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper)
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
Divisions: Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Maternity leave -- Great Britain, Universities and colleges -- Great Britain, Women -- Employment -- Great Britain
Series Name: CAGE Online Working Paper Series
Publisher: Department of Economics, University of Warwick
Place of Publication: Coventry, UK
Official Date: September 2013
Volume: Volume 2013
Number: Number 171
Number of Pages: 27
Status: Not Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
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URI: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/59345

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