Abstract
Previous research (Kuziemko et al. 2018) indicates that women, particularly those with higher education, adopt more negative attitudes toward female employment post-parenthood and find the experience of motherhood more challenging than anticipated. Additionally, more-educated mothers across countries allocate more time for childcare (see Guryan et al. 2008). Our hypothesis posits that highly educated women, who have constructed their adult identities around their careers, experience amplified societal pressures to prioritize childcare, creating a tension with their earlier career-focused values. Utilizing a unique dataset comprising self-reported identities pre- and post-motherhood, along with time-use diaries from couples with young children, we analyze partners’ time allocation, and household arrangements, including chore distribution and satisfaction levels, by partners’ employment status, income, education, and personal backgrounds. Our investigation delves into the association between women's identities and both partners' perceptions of social norms, views on gender roles, time spent with children, relational dynamics, income, and educational levels.