SP 2 Human Reproduction in Societies and Markets

SP 2 uses quantitative empirical methods to examine the interrelation between reproductive decisions, individual biographies, societies, and labor markets. Some particularly urgent developments will be examined from a sociological and economic viewpoint during the second phase of the URPP in 2025 to 2028 by addressing the following key questions:

• How do reproductive choices impact men’s and women’s educational and occupational trajectories?

• Examination of the within-family transmission of the child penalty, income losses for females after the first child’s birth, from Swiss social security records and matching with population registers.
• Exploring the leaky pipeline phenomenon in the professional careers of women in the private sector in Germany and Switzerland.

The sub-project unites competencies in sociology and economics. Its main empirical base will be a panel study in relevant groups hosted at the Data Centre; this combines standardized questions, vignette and survey experiments.

Sociological research frames the big picture and will examine reproductive decisions about new fertility treatments and their consequences for individuals, families, and society in general.

Psychobiological research addresses the consequences of established and innovative fertility treatments for parents and their children. We will longitudinally investigate technologically assisted forms of reproduction such as (1) IVF and ICSI, and (2) social egg freezing (SEF).

Socioeconomic research will ask how the reproductive decisions of men and women are intertwined with local labor market opportunities. The relationship between fertility and labor supply has been intensely debated in various contexts. We will leverage recent advances in the genetic architecture of fertility and gender-specific shocks to education and labor market opportunities to understand how the trade-off between career and family is shaped by increasing inequality, income uncertainty, greater female representation in higher education, and the varying prices of fertility treatments. 

The gender-equality paradox in management (Katja Rost, Malte Doehne, Margit Osterloh)
Research question and insights: The gender-equality paradox suggests that the more developed and gender equal a country is, the greater are the differences in occupational preferences between men and women. It has been extensively analyzed in the educational and sociological literature on science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computer science (STEM) fields. Our project extends the discussion to top management careers in affluent, gender-equal countries and examines whether the gender-equality paradox contributes to the persistently low representation of women in high managerial positions. We suggest an explanation of the gender-equality paradox by linking the macro level of collective action with the micro level of individual action. We also draw an analytical distinction between gender equality and wealth because each may have different effects on the gender-equality paradox. We develop and test hypotheses at different levels of aggregation concerning women’s behavior in management. Our results show a strong crowding-out effect on the labor supply of women in rich, gender-equal countries, indicating that the gender-equality paradox also applies to top management positions.

Connection within the broader context of the URPP: Careers and family planning are closely intertwined. This project focuses on the careers of women in affluent countries, specifically in the top segment of the labor market.

The tenure-gap in management (Margit Osterloh, Katja Rost, Maria Augstburger, Pierette Lamezan)
Research question and insights: The gender tenure gap refers to the difference in the length of time women and men stay in management positions. According to the Schilling Report 2024, for women and men who left their management positions in the 100 largest Swiss companies in 2023, this gap was 4 years: men remained in their positions for an average of 7 years, while women only remained for 3 years. Our own research revealed a gender tenure gap of approximately 3 years. According to our findings, the gender tenure gap has even increased in recent years. What explains this gender tenure gap? We test three explanations: (1) Glass ceiling: Discrimination against women. (2) Demand side: Explicit and implicit quotas. (3) Supply side: Different preferences and characteristics of women and men. The preliminary results do not support explanations (1) and (3), but they give some support for explanation (2).

Connection within the broader context of the URPP: Careers and family planning are closely intertwined. This project focuses on the careers of women in affluent countries, specifically in the top segment of the labor market.

Should employers pay for fertility treatments? (Katja Rost)
Research question and insights: For years, the literature has controversially discussed the fertility measures offered and paid for by companies. One example of this is Google, which has been paying for social egg freezing for its female employees for years. However, for a long time this was a niche debate, as only a few and mostly American companies paid for selected fertility treatments. More recently, however, there have been increased efforts by international companies, including in Switzerland, to anchor family planning in the company in the future (e.g. Family Forward). The plan is also to pay for fertility treatments. According to these companies, these efforts have been very well received and praised by employees. But how does the Swiss public view these steps? In the second phase of Charles, the normative assessments of the Swiss population are surveyed and evaluated according to demographic characteristics.

Connection within the broader context of the URPP: The question of whether fertility treatments should be covered by health insurance is one of the URPP's key issues. The project also addresses normative questions, such as whether companies that offer such treatments are encouraging their employees to delay parenthood even longer in favor of their careers, thus preventing them from planning their families.

Is there a partnership market crisis in Switzerland? (Katja Rost, Malte Doehne)
Research question and insights: Nowadays, women have overtaken men in terms of education in most equal-rights, wealthy countries. In dating markets, this means that in the future, women will increasingly have to date or marry below their own education level. In particular, in USA, where this educational gap has grown considerably faster than in Switzerland, research shows that, as a result of inert social norms, dating markets have not yet adjusted to this new situation. Highly qualified women and lower qualified men often remain single. In Switzerland, too, the education gap among young people has now widened. Will we also see this partnership market crisis in Switzerland, or will society be able to find other negotiation mechanisms, because many formally less educated men experience successful professional careers as a result of the dual education system in Switzerland? We are testing this question with a survey in Switzerland in spring 2025.

Connection within the broader context of the URPP: One reason for the decline in the number of children and the late family planning in gender-equal welfare countries may also be the partnership market crisis. This is indicated by the previous qualitative literature, which examines why women are increasingly demanding social egg freezing. In this respect, the project takes up a core question of the URPP.

The opposing effects of gender-equality and wealth on gender roles (Marco Gieselmann, Katja Rost, Pascal Sager)
Research question and insights: Gender equality and wealth are strongly correlated; nevertheless, at the macro level, both dimensions can work in different directions. Gender equality dissolves traditional gender roles while wealth enables more individual development opportunities and can thus reinforce different preferences of women and men. We analyze this for the division of employment and domestic work between men and women and for maternity norms using the ISSP waves 1994, 2002, 2012, 2022 for 45 countries. The preliminary results show that gender equality has no effect on the division of paid work and housework between women and men, but that prosperity promotes a traditional division of labor. Furthermore, although maternity norms decrease in egalitarian countries, they increase with a country's prosperity. The results thus confirm that gender equality and wealth work in different directions. They also show that normative change does not necessarily lead to behavioral change.

Connection within the broader context of the URPP: Today's equal, affluent societies seem to be characterized by an increase in conflicts between men and women, which also have an effect on family planning. This project aims to gain a better understanding of these lines of conflict.

Determinants of the Child Penalty within and across generations (Alex Jenni, Josef Zweimüller)
This project investigates the within-family transmission of the “child penalty”, the income losses by females after the birth of the first child. The project wants to contribute to a better understanding of the role of family background for the persistence of gender inequalities in the labor market. Recent literature emphasizes the importance of parenthood for the gender income gap (Kleven, Landais, Posch, Steinhauer and Zweimüller 2019; Cortés and Pan 2020) and the role of social norms (Fernández, Fogli, and Olivetti 2004). We also aim to determine if individuals tend to choose partners who hold similar gender norms and if there is significant variation in social norms within and across regions.

To address these questions, we will use Swiss social security records matched with population registers to estimate individual child penalties for mothers born in Switzerland in the 1960s and 1970s. We will then examine the intergenerational correlation in this motherhood penalty, as well as the correlations between close and distant same-generation relatives. From a methodological point of view, we will use latent factor models (Collado, Ortuño-Ortín and Stuhler 2022) which allow us to identify systematic familial patterns in the presence of substantial individual variability.

The project will be in collaboration with Jan Stuhler (Professor at Carlos III, Madrid) who is an expert in the literature of intergeneration transmission of inequalities.

How to Explain the Leaky Pipeline: Tokenism, Self-Selection, or Status Group Effects? (Margit Osterloh, Katja Rost) 
We take a novel approach to explain the leaky pipeline at universities by comparing various fields of study in the two largest Swiss universities. We start from Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s token hypothesis, which suggests that women suffer from their minority position. According to this hypothesis it is expected that the higher women’s share of positions is in a field of study, the less pronounced is the leaky pipeline. In contrast, the self-selection hypothesis and the status group hypothesis both predict different outcomes: The higher women’s share of a field of study is, the more pronounced is the leaky pipeline. Our data refute the token hypothesis. To test the second and third hypotheses, we conducted a representative survey at two Swiss universities. We find strong evidence for self-selection effects but no status group effects. Our findings show that men and women in different fields of study have different preferences that shape their careers, family dynamics and partner choices.

Connection within the broader context of the URPP:  Career plans and family plans are closely connected. This project shows that both differ across disciplines. Measures to mitigate the leaky pipeline as well as to increase fertility should take these differences into account.

Why do women shy away from competition? (Margit Osterloh)
There exists a lot of empirical literature that shows that women – particularly the most qualified women – shy away from competition against men in male-dominated domains. This fact helps to explain the leaky pipeline of women and men during their professional careers which is still in place to a high degree. At the same time, the percentage of qualified women with a tertiary education that remain single and do not have children raises steadily. However, there is little research on why women dislike competition more than men. Why do women tend either to avoid competition with men or remain single? This question must be answered to find measures to mitigate this tension. The project aims to find a conceptual answer to this question in several steps. First, I review empirical findings on the gender gap in competitiveness and on the so called “Oscar curse”. These findings show that women who are more successful than their partners (e.g. winning an Oscar) are more prone to be divorced. Second, I discuss theories to explain these empirical facts, e.g. identity economics (Akerlof & Kranton 2005), social role theory (Eagly & Karau 2002), and expectation states theory (Ridgeway 2001). Finally I develop testable hypotheses on which institutional measures may help women to escape the described tension.

Connection within the broader context of the URPP:  Career planning and family planning are closely connected. The project contributes to the discussion on measures to mitigate the tension for women between successful competitiveness in their professional life and founding a family 

The labor supply response of women across the divorce process and the moderating role of children (Matthias Klingler)
Employment is widely considered a key coping strategy for women against the economic burden of divorce. However, few studies have explored how women adjust their labor supply considering the moderating role of children’s presence. We expect mothers to show a stronger labor supply response to divorce compared with childless women, because (1) the negative income effect is expected to weigh more heavily on mothers, as they can draw less on pre-divorce accumulated wealth, mainly due to childbirth-related interruptions in their careers (Lersch et al. 2017), and (2) children typically reside with their mothers and therefore single mothers usually face additional financial burdens (Sörensen 1994). The results suggest that increased economic activity is an important coping strategy for women during the divorce process, with mothers showing the most pronounced increase in labor supply. Thus, the project hints at an important interrelatedness of reproductive behavior with other demographic life-course dynamics in their impact on economic activity and living conditions.

German Couples’ Working Time Differences around First Childbirth—Have Traditional Arrangements Eroded between 1992 and 2019? (Marco Gieselmann, Matthias Klingler, Laura Lükemann)
Employment arrangements of couples in Western economies have changed in recent decades. The progression towards more equal labor models was revealed in several cohort-studies (Grunow et al., 2013; Trappe et al., 2015), is reflected by changing norms towards female labour market participation (Adler and Brayfield, 2006) and by an increase in egalitarian values (Grunow et al., 2012). Whether this shift led to a decline of traditional labour arrangements among parents remains, however, an empirical question. Longitudinal analyses based on the German Socio-Economic Panel Study show ambivalent results: the post-2007 parental cohort experienced substantially smaller birth-related declines in the female share of paid labor compared with previous cohorts. However, their adaptation following the initial decrease is weaker, leading to similar levels of maternal labour supply across cohorts seven to ten years after the transitions to parenthood. We conclude that dual earner measures which address the early phase of parenthood have a short-term impact on parents’ labor arrangements, but only a small enduring effect. These findings reveal the sustainable nature of post-reproductive parental labour arrangements. Both from a life-course, as well from a cohort perspective, these patterns resist the intended implications of equalizing and de-familizing policy measures.

Assessing Lareau’s Theses on Parenting in a European Context: Findings from a Population-Representative Survey Experiment in Switzerland (Matthias Klingler, Benita Combet, Larissa Fritsch, Sandra Gilgen)
Research question and insights: Research has shown that parents’ time investment in their children has risen substantially over the past fifty years (e.g., Dotti Sani & Treas, 2016). However, whether this trend represents a normative shift towards more intensive parenting has primarily been explored through qualitative research. Annette Lareau’s seminal work (2002, 2011) highlights class-based differences in parenting styles, contrasting the ‘concerted cultivation’ of higher-status parents with the ‘accomplishment of natural growth’ seen among lower-status parents. Building on this, our study aims to test Lareau’s theoretical framework in a European context using a Swiss population-representative sample. By refining measures of parenting norms and examining individual and combined components of these styles, we will offer a cross-cultural perspective.

Connection within the broader context of the URPP: The URPP H2R focuses intensively on reproductive decisions as a cultural phenomenon, examining, for example, the interpretive frameworks of surrogate mothers or the coping strategies of women dealing with failed artificial insemination attempts. The CHARLS survey conducted by the URPP offers a unique opportunity to study cultural phenomena not only within specific subpopulations and based on convenience samples but also to draw conclusions about their distribution and causal relationships at the Swiss population level. This study investigates the parenting theory originally developed by Annette Lareau in the American context as a vignette module within CHARLS, exploring whether intensive and interventionist parenting styles and their endorsement are relevant in Switzerland. This is particularly intriguing in light of the URPP's focus on the desire for children and the intensive artificial methods used to fulfill it, raising important questions about the centrality of children for these parents.

Balancing parenthood and career: Exploring gendered career and subject preferences (Benita Combet, Lea Jordan)
Research question and insights: Despite equal educational attainment, women remain underrepresented in top positions in Switzerland (Swiss Federal Statistical Office, 2021; Schilling Report, 2022), reflecting a broader global trend (World Economic Forum, 2023). The reasons for this disparity are less clear, ranging from gender preferences to structural barriers such as insufficient childcare (Freundt for Ecoplan, 2023). In this project, we aim to explore the first option further by investigating gender differences in preferences for subjects and occupations and how they relate to (aspirations to) parenthood.

This question will be explored in several subprojects:

• Subproject 1: We examine the extent to which fertility intentions and traditional value systems influence the choice of academic subjects among high school students. To investigate this, we rely on choice experiments and additional data from a representative survey of Swiss high school students (Combet, Hauf, Kroh, 2024).
• Subproject 2: This subproject investigates the occupational preferences of university students, focusing on gender, field of study and fertility intentions. Two key dimensions of job characteristics will be analyzed:
  • Work arrangements: Preferences for part-time work, flexibility and overtime in relation to career progression.
  • Career opportunities: Preferences for top positions, types of leadership roles, and how this is moderated by support structures.

Both analyses will be based on choice experiments within a nationwide survey of university students planned for early 2025.

• Subproject 3: Using a choice experiment included in the TREE panel (first cohort, wave 11), we will analyse whether actual jobs and ideal jobs differ according to parental status and gender.

Connection within the Broader Context of the URPP: By linking preferences for academic subjects and job characteristics with fertility intentions, and actual parenthood, this project contributes to understanding how preferences shape gender inequalities in the labor market.