The intergenerational transmission of World War I on female labour

Abstract

Demographic shocks tied to World War I’s high death toll induced many women to enter the labour force in the immediate postwar period. I document a positive impact of these newly employed women on the labour force participation of subsequent generations of women until today. I also find that the war permanently altered attitudes toward the role of women in the labour force. I decompose this impact into three channels of intergenerational transmission: transmission from mothers to daughters, transmission from mothers-in-law to daughters-in-law via their sons, and transmission through local social interactions.