Giulia Oliverio The gender wage gap and the child penalty Abstract: Child penalties account for most of the remaining gender inequality in the labor market. Yet, we still do not know much about why they remain so large and persistent. I start by documenting a novel fact, which is the presence of heterogeneity in child penalties in the US by measures of intra-household comparative advantage. Then, I investigate the effect of the closing of the gender wage gap on employment penalties for mothers over the years 1980-2010. To do so, I leverage gender differences in occupational choices and combine gender-specific local labor market shocks with pseudo-event studies around childbirth. I find evidence of a greater fall in child penalties in local labor markets with a faster convergence in the wage rate of women and men. I explore possible mechanisms and find evidence of an increase in education of women relative to men, delayed childbirth, and suggestive evidence of a shift in gender norms.

The 22nd Annual ILR Labor Roundtable brings a wide range of representatives in labor leadership, unions, and social justice organizations to engage in dynamic, in-depth conversations with students. Join us to learn about current trends and roles in the labor movement, as well as the fundamental role it plays in bringing about social change. This event is sponsored by the ILR Worker Institute and is open to all Cornell students. Speakers include: Grace Bogdanove ’18, SEIU 1199, VP for Nursing Homes Valone Brown, NYS AFL-CIO Sisto Campana, AFSCME Matan Diner, Office of the NYC Comptroller Jamaine Gibson, Amalgamated Transit Union, Director of Apprenticeships and Workforce Development Michael Herron, UFT, Grievance and Arbitration Department Christine Johnson, UAW Local 2300, President Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, Street Vendor Project, Deputy Director Lindsy Lee ’02, Staff Attorney, Federal Government Nicole Mormilo ’12, Labor Lawyer Jordan Palmer, Actor's Equity Strippers United, Head of Legal Sarah O'Quinn, ILO, Government Relations Officer Victor Reiman ’21, IATSE Emily Rodekohr, CALS ’15, Ithaca Fire Association, Vice President Carla Villanueva, UAW, Organizer and Researcher Co-sponsored by: Committee on U.S.-Latin American Relations (CUSLAR), Cornell Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program, Cornell Law School, Cornell Progressives, Cornell Undergraduate Student Assembly, Cornell YDSA, Department of Sociology, GLO Graduate Labor Organization, ILR Office of Career Services and Scheinman Club for Conflict Resolution

Fabiano Dal-Ri Abstract: