Fertility-based employment discrimination and family policy: Evidence from a field experiment

Previous studies show that the labour market discriminates against working mothers in the workplace. However, the childfree women have received scant attention and little is known about the discrimination based on potential and actual fertility status. Given the state interventions to help women balance work and family in the form of family policy in many countries, it is important to address how it affects fertility discrimination behaviour in the workplace. This study conducts a correspondence test at an online recruitment platform in China. When it comes to employment, women are more likely than men to be affected by their fertility status. The findings of our experiment reveal that the disclosure of fertility status for childfree women in resumes significantly reduces their likelihood of receiving callbacks from real employers, as compared to resumes of women with children, by similar to 26.7%. Generous maternity leave policies may encourage discrimination towards childfree women who are of fertile age in non-mother-friendly occupation. The employment discrimination affects women who have the potential to become mothers.