Date of Award

6-2017

Document Type

Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Psychology

Second Department

Economics

First Advisor

George Bizer

Second Advisor

Lewis Davis

Language

English

Keywords

family leave, maternity leave, women's employment

Abstract

Prior research has shown that the availability of paid maternity leave for new mothers can influence a variety of factors such as women's mental health and life satisfaction long-term career outcomes and children's long run outcomes. However scholars have suggested that there is a backlash effect among certain groups of people when particularly strong advancements are made in areas of women's rights. Research also suggests that attitudes towards certain behavior are impacted by legislation that attempts to regulate such behavior. The current research assessed whether the implementation of paid family leave impacted attitudes towards mothers in the workforce. This study evaluated whether the implementation of paid family leave legislation in California as well as variance due to age educate sex race etc. impacted attitudes towards working mothers. The data used is from the General Social Survey which provided over 17 000 observations from 1998 to 2004. The results of this study indicate that there was significant backlash among a variety of subgroups of men after paid family leave was implemented in California consistent with prior research that suggests an antifeminist backlash effect. This study therefore provides insight into the relevance of what backlash might exist in terms of paid family leave legislation as well as further women's rights legislation moving forward.

Download

Share

COinS