Social norms are put forward as a prominent explanation for the changing labour supply decisions of women. This paper studies the intergenerational transmission of these norms, examining how they affect subsequent female labour supply decisions, taking into account not only the early socialization of women but also that of their partner. Using large representative panel data sets from West Germany, results suggest that women with partners who grew up with a working mother are more likely to participate in the labour force, work longer hours and earn higher labour income. The main contribution of our study is that we assess a variety of potential mechanisms for this intergenerational link. We find no evidence that this finding reflects assortative mating; rather, analysis suggests that the partner’s preferences are based on their experiences with the employment of their mothers and play a decisive role for the labour supply decision of partnered women. Moreover, we identify various effect heterogeneities, finding stronger associations for women with potentially less bargaining power. Our results suggest that policy measures supporting the labour force participation of today’s mothers will increase the female labour force participation of the next generation.

中文翻译：

---

性别规范的代际传递——有工作母亲的青春期男性为何以及如何影响女性劳动力市场的结果

社会规范被提出来作为女性劳动力供给决策变化的重要解释。本文研究了这些规范的代际传递，研究了它们如何影响随后的女性劳动力供应决策，不仅考虑了女性的早期社会化，还考虑了她们伴侣的早期社会化。使用来自西德的大型代表性面板数据集，结果表明，与工作母亲一起长大的伴侣的女性更有可能参与劳动力，工作时间更长并获得更高的劳动收入。我们研究的主要贡献是我们评估了这种代际联系的各种潜在机制。我们没有发现任何证据表明这一发现反映了分类交配；相当，分析表明，伴侣的偏好是基于她们对母亲就业的经验，对伴侣女性的劳动力供给决策起着决定性的作用。此外，我们确定了各种影响异质性，发现与潜在议价能力较低的女性之间存在更强的关联。我们的研究结果表明，支持当今母亲劳动力参与的政策措施将增加下一代女性劳动力参与。