Description:

Siddhant Agarwal: Workhour Regularity and Gender Gaps: Evidence from Brazilian Exporters

Abstract: Following Goldin (AER, 2014), I conjecture that women have a higher preference for the amenity of workhour regularity (due to the gendered division of labour at home, childcare, and safety concerns), and this explains a significant part of the gender gaps we see in employment, promotions, and wages. Using a panel of employer-employee matched data from Brazil, I empirically test the importance of this factor by exploiting variation in the time zones of the trading partners of exporting firms. I find that firms that trade with further away clients employ fewer female employees. Since exporting firms also pay a significant premium over domestic firms, this helps explain a large portion of the gender wage gap.