Balancing Work and Care: How workplace factors can mitigate the gendered impacts of caregiving
Parental caregiving responsibilities can disrupt paid work, contributing to persistent gender inequalities in employment and earnings. Using Australian employer-employee linked data and a dynamic difference-in-differences approach, this study examines how workplace environments shape the impacts of caregiving shocks, focusing on working parents of children diagnosed with cancer.
Mothers experience large and persistent earnings losses, while fathers’ outcomes remain stable. Supportive firms and occupations, defined by high female representation in senior roles and lower work hour intensity, significantly reduce mothers’ earnings penalties. These findings highlight the important role of workplace conditions in reducing gendered economic costs of caregiving.
Speaker profile
Maryam Naghsh Nejad is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE), specialising in health economics and policy evaluation. Her research focuses on health and economic inequalities, using large-scale linked datasets to inform policy. She holds a PhD in Economics from West Virginia University. Her expertise spans applied economics, outcome evaluations, and the analysis of health and economic disparities. Committed to evidence-based decision-making, she contributes to academic and policy discussions through research, publications, and collaborations, addressing key issues in health economics, labor markets, and development economics.
Weekly seminar series
As part of our Centre's vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series. Visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
For further information on our seminar series, please contact Trong-Anh.Trinh@monash.edu.
Event Details
- Date:
- 2 April 2025 at 12:15 pm – 1:15 pm
- Venue:
- Caulfield campus, Building H, level 8, room H813
- Categories:
- CHE Seminar; General
Description
Parental caregiving responsibilities can disrupt paid work, contributing to persistent gender inequalities in employment and earnings. Using Australian employer-employee linked data and a dynamic difference-in-differences approach, this study examines how workplace environments shape the impacts of caregiving shocks, focusing on working parents of children diagnosed with cancer.
Mothers experience large and persistent earnings losses, while fathers’ outcomes remain stable. Supportive firms and occupations, defined by high female representation in senior roles and lower work hour intensity, significantly reduce mothers’ earnings penalties. These findings highlight the important role of workplace conditions in reducing gendered economic costs of caregiving.
Speaker profile
Maryam Naghsh Nejad is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE), specialising in health economics and policy evaluation. Her research focuses on health and economic inequalities, using large-scale linked datasets to inform policy. She holds a PhD in Economics from West Virginia University. Her expertise spans applied economics, outcome evaluations, and the analysis of health and economic disparities. Committed to evidence-based decision-making, she contributes to academic and policy discussions through research, publications, and collaborations, addressing key issues in health economics, labor markets, and development economics.
Weekly seminar series
As part of our Centre's vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series. Visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
For further information on our seminar series, please contact Trong-Anh.Trinh@monash.edu.