Title: Childbearing Age and the Shadow Mommy Effect on Hiring: A Large-scale Field Experiment

Speaker: Li King King, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong

Time: 2025/04/29 13:30-15:00

Venue: 106 Zhonghui Building

Abstract

This study examines the shadow mommy effect-discrimination against women of prime childbearing age in the labor market. We sent fabricated CVs to 35,713 genuine job advertisements in the IT, accounting, and HR sectors across four major cities in China, accurately simulating real job-seeking conditions. Our findings reveal that women of prime childbearing age face disadvantages in the job search process, even when their maternal and marital status is not disclosed. The impact of this effect varies by occupation, firm ownership, and location. Our results suggest that employers’ decision biases are largely shaped by the intersection of gender and age perceptions. Societal expectations of motherhood intensify concerns about the costs of gendered parental roles, perpetuating the shadow mommy effect.