Girl dads make better bosses, study suggests
Having a child can abruptly shift the way you view the world. That may be especially true when it comes to men who are raising girls: According to new research, fathers who are in manager roles behave differently towards women at work after having daughters. The new study , which was recently published in The Review of Economic Studies , used Danish administrative data to match employer records…
New research suggests that male managers who become fathers, particularly of daughters, are more likely to hire and promote women in the workplace. The study, published in The Review of Economic Studies, analyzed Danish administrative data and focused on workplaces with a single manager. The researchers found that male managers were 2.9% more likely to hire women after having a first daughter, with this positive effect being more pronounced for women who had higher education levels, were full-time employed, and earned a high salary at the company.
Additionally, the birth of a daughter seemed to lead to a 4.4% relative earnings increase for women working under these male managers.
The study suggests that the shift in male managers' behavior was likely due to an unconscious bias and a growing awareness of gender inequality. Fatherhood appears to make the gender disparities more salient to managers, leading to more equitable decision-making without negatively impacting workplace performance. While the study found no significant negative impact on overall workplace efficiency, the gender gap in earnings still persists, with women earning about 85% of what men earn.
The researchers suggest that policies targeting managers' perceptions of the social costs of gender inequality may be necessary to further reduce the disparities.
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