IPP Policy Brief n°26
April 2017
Authors : Emma Duchini and Clémentine Van Effenterre
Contacts : c.vaneffenterre@psemail.eu, duchini.emma@gmail.com
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How does children’s school schedule affect mothers’ labor supply? Temporal flexibility and inequalities on the labor market
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Summary :
France’s 2013 reform of the school schedule, which reallocated a half day of classes to Wednesday morning for students in kindergarten and primary schools, is a small revolution in the organisation of time in the French society. This policy brief demonstrates that the school schedule not only has an impact on children’s learning, but also influences women’s labour supply decisions. The French setting reveals the presence of two types of inequality in the labour market: inequality between women and men, and inequality between highly educated and
low-educated women. Before the 2013 reform, women whose youngest child was in primary school were twice as likely as men not to work on Wednesday, and thus to adjust their work schedule to that of their children. In addition, the decision to work on Wednesday was correlated to women’s level of education, as mothers with a university degree were less likely to work on Wednesday than women without a university degree, although they worked more hours on average per week. The reorganisation of the school schedule resulting from the 2013 reform induced mothers to restructure their working schedule too: while, at least in the short term, the reform did not affect the number of hours worked per week, it enabled more women to work on Wednesday, resulting in a 15% reduction in the Wednesday gap with men in less than two years.
Key notes :
- Children’s school schedule directly influence how women organize their
working schedule, which is not the case for men. - Not all women can have a flexible working schedule: prior to 2013,
mothers with a university degree were more likely not to work on
Wednesday than those with at most a high-school degree (45% vs. 41%),
even though they worked more hours per week (36 hours vs. 33 hours). - The 2013 reform of the school schedule has given mothers an opportunity
to re-allocate their working time: without increasing their number of hours
worked per week, it has led to an increase in the percentage of women
working on Wednesday, reducing the gap between women and men along
this dimension by 15%.
Press review
- Courrier Cadres, 4 sept. 2018 Rythmes scolaires : quand le passage à la semaine de 4 jours impacte le salaire des femmes
- Femme Actuelle, 6 sept. 2017 Primaire, collège: tout ce qui a changé à la rentrée scolaire depuis l’ère Macron
- Nord Eclair, 2 sept. 2017 La semaine des quatre jours risque de se faire aux dépens des femmes
- Le Point, 31 août 2017 Rentrée scolaire : un mercredi qui fait débat
- Le Monde, 31 juillet 2017 Rythmes scolaires : « Le retour à la semaine de quatre jours risque de se faire aux dépens des femmes »
- Le Parisien, 12 avril 2017 Les mères de retour au bureau le mercredi
- Alter Eco, 7 avril 2017 La réforme des rythmes scolaires a réduit les inégalités hommes-femmes
- Konbini, 6 avril 2017 La réforme des rythmes scolaires s’avère bénéfique pour l’emploi des femmes
- Les Nouvelles News, 6 avril 2017 Quand la réforme des rythmes scolaires influe sur le rythme de travail… des mères
- RTL, 6 avril 2017 Comment les nouveaux rythmes scolaires ont influencé le travail des mamans
- Le Monde, 6 avril 2017 Rythmes La réforme des rythmes scolaires bénéfique pour l’emploi des femmes
- Le Café Pédagogique, 5 avril 2017 A qui profite la réforme des rythmes scolaires ?
- Libération, 5 avril 2017 Rythmes scolaires Les mères y gagnent
- Le Figaro, 5 avril 2017 La réforme des rythmes scolaires “bénéfique”
- Boursier.com, 5 avril 2017 Les bons points de la réforme des rythmes scolaires…
- Europe 1, 5 avril 2017 Rythmes scolaires : la réforme a été bénéfique pour les travailleuses
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