Original Article
Institutions and the gender wage gap: How production and welfare regime moderates the effect of family policy
Ji Young Kang,
Corresponding Author
Ji Young Kang
Department of Social Welfare, Hannam University, Daejeon, South Korea
Ji Young Kang, Department of Social Welfare, Hannam University, 70 Hannam-ro Daedeok-gu Daejeon, South Korea
E-mail: jiyoungksw@hnu.kr
Search for more papers by this authorJi Young Kang,
Corresponding Author
Ji Young Kang
Department of Social Welfare, Hannam University, Daejeon, South Korea
Ji Young Kang, Department of Social Welfare, Hannam University, 70 Hannam-ro Daedeok-gu Daejeon, South Korea
E-mail: jiyoungksw@hnu.kr
Search for more papers by this authorFirst published: 25 June 2020
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine whether the effects of work and family reconciliation policy on the gender wage gap are moderated by institutional contexts of production and welfare regime. Using time-series analysis for 13 countries from 1981 to 2015, the study revealed a strong association between childcare and a lower gender wage gap in the Coordinated Market Economies (CMEs)/social democratic welfare states but not in Liberal Market Economies (LMEs)/liberal welfare states. The study also found that the impact of leave generosity on the gender wage gap in CMEs/social democratic welfare states is less salient than in CMEs/continental welfare states. This study highlights the extent to which family policy affects the gender wage gap hinges on how each country organises its market coordination and welfare institutions and pushes the current literature forward to a question of ‘what kinds of’ family policy matters in ‘which’ production and welfare regimes.
Open Research
Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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