Daddy’s girl: How firstborn daughters nudge male bosses towards fairer hiring

Gender inequality in the labour market is often discussed in terms of policies, quotas and corporate diversity programmes. But what if something as personal – and uncontrollable – as the gender of a manager’s first child could make a measurable difference?

That is the striking conclusion of a new research paper, Daddy’s Girl: Daughters, Managerial Decisions, and Gender Inequality, by Maddalena Ronchi of Northwestern University and Nina Smith, Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics and Business Economics at Aarhus University. The paper has been accepted for publication in Review of Economic Studies and is already attracting attention well beyond academic circles.

Using detailed Danish register data, the researchers show that when male managers in small businesses have a daughter rather than a son as their first child, women’s pay and employment in their firms increase significantly. In short: becoming a “daddy’s girl” father appears to make bosses more inclined to hire women – and to pay them better. 

The figures show that male managers in small businesses generally develop a more positive view of women when they have a daughter

^{Nina Smith, Professor, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus BSS} 

A hypothesis met with scepticism

The idea behind the study was first proposed by Maddalena Ronchi, then a PhD student, who approached Nina Smith with a bold hypothesis: that male managers’ gender attitudes might shift when they become fathers to daughters.

Nina Smith admits that she was unconvinced at first.

“When Maddalena first contacted me, I honestly thought the idea sounded unlikely,” says Nina Smith. “I didn’t believe that something as random as the gender of a manager’s first child could have a meaningful impact on workplace decisions. But I thought: we have the data – let’s check.”

And the scepticism faded once the results began to emerge.

“When I saw the results, I thought it was almost too good to be true,” Nina Smith says. “The effects were not only statistically significant – they were also large enough to be genuinely interesting.”

Two figures that stand out

The results are striking. Following the birth of a manager’s first daughter, women’s relative earnings in the firm increase by 4.4 per cent, while women’s employment rises by 2.9 per cent.

These effects appear immediately after the birth and persist for many years. They are driven primarily by changes in hiring: managers who have a firstborn daughter become more likely to recruit women, particularly those with long educations, full-time hours and higher-paying positions.

“The figures show that male managers in small businesses generally develop a more positive view of women when they have a daughter,” says Nina Smith. “That change in perspective is reflected very concretely in who they choose to hire.”

Importantly, the study finds no evidence that firms with daughter-fathers perform worse. Average labour costs, sales and productivity remain unchanged. Women hired after the birth of a daughter tend to replace men with similar qualifications and pay.

Why does a daughter make a difference?

The study cannot directly observe what goes on inside managers’ minds, but the timing of the effects offers important clues. If managers were changing their behaviour to improve future labour market conditions for their own daughters, the impact would be expected to appear much later. Instead, the changes occur immediately after childbirth.

The findings suggest that the birth of a daughter makes gender inequality more salient and prompts a shift in how male managers perceive women in the workplace, i.e. it changes their beliefs about women.

Lessons for gender equality

Despite Denmark’s reputation as a gender-equal society, women still earn less than men, and unconscious gender bias remains widespread across sectors. For Nina Smith, the study carries a clear message for business leaders – particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises.

“Large companies often have HR procedures and training in place,” she says. “But small owner-managed firms account for around a third of employment in Denmark. If you have unconscious bias, you risk overlooking women who may be the most qualified for the job.”

The study does not suggest that having daughters is a policy solution. But it does show that managerial attitudes are not fixed, and that even subtle shifts can translate into meaningful changes in workplace outcomes. The “Daddy’s girl” effect highlights how personal experiences can reshape behaviour in ways that matter not only for families, but for firms and for society at large.

Facts

We strive to comply with Universities Denmark’s principles for good research communication. For this reason, we provide the following information as a supplement to this article:

Type of study	Register data where we are able to estimate causal effects
External collaborators	None
External funding	None
Conflict of interest	None
Other	No
Link to the scientific article	The paper has been accepted for publication in Review of Economic Studies and will be available via Nina Smith’s website once it is published: https://econ.au.dk/contact/show/person/nsmith@econ.au.dk
Contact	Professor Nina Smith, nsmith@econ.au.dk