Research
Research
My research spans two broad areas: gender and work, and labour organizations. I examine how formal HR policies and informal organizational norms influence gender inequalities in the workplace. For my dissertation on labour organizations, I compiled a unique dataset on collective bargaining to examine how conflicts within and between organizations affect the labour movement. I am currently collaborating on studies related to algorithmic management technologies and workplace policies addressing sexual harassment.
With Dionne Pohler, Megan Landes, and Kate Hayman
We explore the gender earnings gap in an organization that has already adopted equitable compensation practices. We find that despite the absence of a gender wage gap, a substantial gender earnings gap persists due to the presence of young children for women. Our results suggest that even when best practices are adopted gendered responsibilities for childcare can still drive an earnings gap, which in this setting would be unexplained without incorporating data on the timing of children.
With Laura Lam
Women often perform a disproportionate share of “office housework” and other non-promotable tasks within an organization. We explore whether this pattern extends to the knowledge space: Are women more likely to be relied on for the labour of knowledge dissemination in organizations?
With Dionne Pohler, Michael Baker, Sarah Kaplan and April Franco
We document the motherhood penalty using Canadian administrative tax data linked to a longitudinal workplace and employment survey. We explore whether part of the motherhood penalty can be attributed to women moving to family-friendly firms around the time of a first birth.
My dissertation explores two empirical questions with respect to the labour movement in Canada:
Do strikes spread across bargaining units?
Does conflict between unions (colloquially, "union raiding") impact subsequent wage settlements?
In the strikes study, I argue that whether strike activity spreads depends on whether a union, observing an external strike, sees an opportunity to coordinate strike actions or an opportunity to free-ride. I use data on strike activity in Ontario to estimate a model of strike spread, and test hypotheses relating to coordination versus free-riding mechanisms as well as spread through geographic and social proximity.
In the study on inter-union competition, I link legal cases of union conflict (i.e, "raids") to bargaining relationships and raw collective agreement files. I use an algorithm to extract wage settlement information from the collective agreements. I explore the question of how inter-union conflict affects wage settlements by estimating both a direct effect of being the subject of a raid, as well as the broader effect of being in a competitive environment.