Collateral Damage? How World War One Changed the Way Women Work

Abstract

Drawing on individual-level data from the 1911 and 1921 population censuses and census-linking techniques, we analyze the consequences of World War I in France on female labor force participation. Our preliminary results suggest that in municipalities that experienced greater military death rates, women were more likely to declare an occupation after the war than they did before the war. These effects are driven by women moving out of waged occupations outside the home (and inactivity) into farming activities.

Victor Gay
Victor Gay
Assistant Professor of Economics

Assistant professor at Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) and at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST), University of Toulouse 1 Capitole.

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