Working Papers
Beyond the Broom: The Decline of Women in Domestic Service (Job Market Paper) - [Draft]
This paper investigates the significant decline of young white women in domestic service in the United States between 1880 and 1930, one of the most notable yet understudied shifts in women’s labor history. I explore how emerging outside options in the labor market influenced this shift, with a particular focus on the roles of rising educational attainment and electrification in facilitating access to new occupations. I find that education played a pivotal role in reducing the supply of white domestics both mechanically through increased school attendance and through increased human capital, which enabled women to pursue higher skilled jobs. To substantiate these results, I employ an instrumental variable approach, leveraging variations in state-level compulsory schooling laws over time. Additionally, a county-level difference-in-differences analysis reveals that the expansion of electrification further accelerated the decline in domestic service among white women by creating skilled job opportunities and enhancing the returns to human capital. The findings in this paper shed light on how improved work opportunities shaped women’s labor choices in the early 20th century, offering a deeper understanding of the forces driving occupational change during this period.
Presented at: Boston University, SEA 2023, SEA 2024
Work in Progress
The Gender of Names (with Martin Fiszbein and Eli Locke) - [Slides]
Over the past two centuries, shifting gender norms have left a profound imprint on the U.S. economy. However, the evolution of these norms is not well understood, largely due to limited historical data on gender attitudes. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to infer gender norms using children's names. Drawing on sound symbolism---a concept rooted in linguistics and psychology---we examine the perception of certain names as inherently "harsh" or "soft" and, therefore, ascribed masculine or feminine qualities. By tracking the evolution of baby name sounds over time, as operationalized through Barry and Harper's (1995) framework, we offer new insights into the historical trajectory of gender norms. While the distinction in sound between male and female names has remained relatively stable over the past 200 years, both genders' names have become noticeably softer and more feminine in the past five decades. Preliminary regression analyses indicate that in 1940, a mother's participation in the labor force is associated with her children having softer, more feminine-sounding names, suggesting a potential link between gender norms and economic roles within the family.
Presented by co-author at: Boston University, Harvard University, SEA 2024
Domestic Service and Black Culture - [Slides]
Presented at: Boston University
Modernization and Domestic Service: Black Women's Employment in the 1940s
Presented at: Boston University
A Silver Lining: Women and the 1918 Flu Pandemic (with Hanna Schwank and Pawel Janas)
Presented by co-author at: University of Southern California
Barriers Unbroken: The Limited Impact of Education and Electrification on Black Women's Escape from Domestic Service in the Early 20th Century