The invisible family load and the gender earnings gap in Kenya

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of the family load – the invisible cognitive and emotional burden of household management and childcare – on the gender earnings gap. We focus on two main components of this gap: labor productivity and job selection. We conduct an experiment in Nairobi randomly triggering family load-related thoughts and then assigning participants to perform manual or cognitive tasks. The family load reduces productivity for women on average. This effect is entirely driven by performance in the manual task, with no impact on the cognitively demanding one, but with no discernible productivity changes for men. Negative income effects for women persist in a subsequent session in which participants are given the choice of which task to perform. Yet, we find that it is treated men who change job preferences towards less remunerated but less cognitively challenging ones. We interpret this as evidence of a gender-differentiated effect of the family load, weighing substantially more on women in terms of productivity and income. Men, however, are far from immune to it: often the main income earners in a household, they respond by seeking safer income sources.