Women’s employment and earnings, as well as earnings inequality, have been rising in OECD countries in recent decades. This dissertation answers questions pertaining to how family policies have facilitated women in combining motherhood and employment, and how women’s earnings have affected inequality among households. Based on well over a million person-level observations, this study covers 18 OECD countries and a period from 1975 to 2005.Work-family reconciliation policies were shown to reduce the employment gap between mothers and women without children, while policies financially supporting families with children enlarge this motherhood-employment gap. Very long periods of leave, however, negatively affect the employment of mothers. More educated mothers benefit more from reconciliation policies than the less educated. Women’s rising earnings were found to have attenuated inequality among households. Family policy arrangements that facilitate women’s employment not only contribute to smaller inequality within households, but also among households.
Exploratory Study on the Expansion of Family Policies and Women’s Employment in Different Classes
