A new study by Sofia Bapna and Russell Funk, forthcoming in Management Science, examines the unintended consequences of India's 2017 amendment to the Maternity Benefit Act, which increased employer-paid maternity leave from 12 to 26 weeks.
The researchers analyzed millions of job applications in the Indian IT sector and found that after the legislation, companies—particularly those with lower profitability—became significantly less likely to consider female applicants for IT roles such as software engineering and mobile development.
Key Findings:
- Women were approximately 22% less likely to be invited for interviews at less profitable companies post-legislation.
- The number of applications submitted by women or the qualifications of female applicants did not change significantly, suggesting the decline was driven by employer behavior rather than applicant factors.
Policy Implications:
Although the expanded maternity leave policy was designed to promote women's workforce participation, its unintended effect was to make women less attractive to employers due to the increased cost of employing them. To address such challenges, the study recommends:
- Strengthening anti-discrimination laws to prevent hiring bias.
- Offering proportional parental leave (maternity and paternity) for all genders to normalize caregiving responsibilities.
- Prohibiting employers from soliciting personal details like marital status and age during hiring.
- Shifting the cost of maternity benefits from employers to broader funding mechanisms, such as government or insurance.
Quotes from the Authors:
- “Our study shows that well-intended policies aimed at supporting women in the workplace may inadvertently discourage hiring, especially in cost-sensitive industries.”
- “To achieve true gender equity, policies like maternity leave must be paired with anti-discrimination measures and broader cultural changes in workplace norms.”
About the Study:
This research stands out by examining the impact of employer-funded maternity leave, a model adopted by 50% of economies offering maternity leave of 14 weeks or longer. The authors analyzed early-stage hiring decisions, offering a rare glimpse into how employers’ financial constraints influence gender bias in the workforce.
The study is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), a leading U.S. government agency that drives innovation and discovery by funding groundbreaking research.
For more information, please contact: Sofia Bapna (sbapna@umn.edu)
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State: Minnesota
Country: United States
Website: https://carlsonschool.umn.edu/faculty/sofia-bapna
