Conference Paper
The Sibling Penalty: Unequal Gendered Effects of Childbirth on Sibling’s Time Allocation
No.
ERF32AC_250
Publisher
ERF
Date
May, 2026
Topic
J1. Demographic Economics
This paper studies how childbirth reshapes intra-household time allocation in Iran, with a focus on older children. Using the Iranian Time Use Survey, we combine 24-hour time diaries with information on household structure and apply a pseudo event–study design. First, we document large gender gaps in unpaid work: women devote substantially more time than men to caregiving and home production, while men work more in the market. Around the birth of the youngest child, mothers increase caregiving and home production and reduce paid work, whereas fathers mainly adjust by raising paid work hours. We then show that part of the additional care burden is absorbed by older daughters. Following the arrival of a younger sibling, daughters increase caregiving and home services more than sons and reduce leisure time. We interpret this pattern as evidence of a sibling penalty in time use.a