TY  - JOUR
AU  - Albanesi,Stefania
AU  - Olivetti,Claudia
TI  - Gender Roles and Medical Progress
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14873
PY  - 2009
Y2  - April 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14873
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14873.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Stefania Albanesi
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
33 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10045
Tel: 212 720 5443
E-Mail: stefania.albanesi@gmail.com

Claudia Olivetti
Boston University
Department of Economics
270 Bay State Road
Boston, MA 02215
Tel: 617/613-1228
Fax: 617/353-4449
E-Mail: olivetti@bu.edu
AB  - The entry of married women into the labor force is one of the most notable economic phenomena of the twentieth century. We argue that medical progress played a critical role in this process. Improved maternal health alleviated the adverse effects of pregnancy and childbirth on women's ability to work, while the introduction of infant formula reduced mothers' comparative advantage in infant feeding. We construct economic measures of these two dimensions of medical progress and develop a quantitative model that aims to capture their impact. Our results suggests that these advances, by enabling women to reconcile work and motherhood, were essential for the rise in married women's participation and the evolution of their economic role.
ER  -