Gender, Children, and Employment: A Study of the Effects of Children on Job Satisfaction

Using US General Social Survey (GSS) data gathered between 2002 and 2014, this study investigates the determinant of women and men’s job satisfaction and develops several hypotheses about the effects of children on men and women’s job satisfaction. The primary theoretical background of the thesis is built upon gender division and job satisfaction literature and seeks to develop hypotheses about the perceptions of men and women regarding child-rearing and perceived effects of their professional life on their preschool-age children. This study found that a woman’s job satisfaction is more likely to affect her perception that preschool-age children experience negative effects from her work than a man. This finding indicates that gender is an important factor that influences one’s perception of their children’s well-being in relation to their job satisfaction. The study also found that the number of children does not have a significant effect on men’s job satisfaction, but is significantly and positively related to women’s job satisfaction. Data collected in this study show that a woman’s perception of whether her children are suffering from her work is more likely to affect her job satisfaction than a man’s. After controlling for personal and job characteristics, multivariate analysis indicates gender is a significant predictor of women and men’s job satisfaction. Policy implications regarding these conclusions are also discussed in the study.

Author

• Guler, Asli

Language

• en

Date created

• 2018

Type of Work

• Master's Thesis

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Sociology

Degree

• M.A.

Advisor

• Jones, Antwan

Committee Member(s)

• Tuch, Steven

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/9880vr26p