Bargaining over parental leave - implications of the biological clock

Abstract: Following the increasing amount of attention centred on gender equality in recent years, this thesis continues the study of parental leave division; this is a topic which is thought to have implications for gender equality on several dimensions. Specifically, we investigate if the threat of female infertility; the "biological clock", affects the division of parental leave between parents. We hypothesise that a woman's bargaining power relative to her spouse decreases as she approaches an infertile age. In a theoretical framework, we analyse the division of parental leave through a Nash cooperative bargaining game. We then perform an empirical analysis to investigate if our hypothesis obtains support in data. In the theoretical framework, we conclude that a decrease in the mother's bargaining power relative to the father should result in her taking a larger share of total parental leave. However, we are not able to empirically support the hypothesis that the female biological clock affects the bargaining outcome negatively as she approaches an infertile age.