Fathers of Daughters Hire 2.9% More Women, Danish Study Finds

Male managers hire women 2.9% more often after the birth of their first daughter, according to a new study published in The Review of Economic Studies. The effect extends beyond hiring: women working for these managers saw a relative earnings increase of about 4.4%.

The research, co-authored by Nina Smith, professor emerita at the department of economics at Aarhus University in Denmark, and Maddelena Rochi, an assistant professor of finance at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, used Danish administrative data to match employer records with information about managers' families. The study focused on workplaces with just one person in a managerial position in a given year, making that manager the most likely decision-maker on hiring and promotion.

The researchers treated the birth of a first daughter as "a plausibly exogenous shock to male managers' gender attitudes." The hiring shift was strongest for women who met three criteria: higher levels of education, full-time employment, and a high salary at the company.

Promotions moved in the same direction. Male managers were more likely to promote women after the birth of a daughter, "provided the pool of incumbents includes female employees who are plausibly better suited for higher-responsibility roles," the study found. The birth of additional daughters had some impact, though less significant — the first daughter carried the biggest sway.

The study did not identify a specific, firm reason for the behavioral change. But Smith told Fast Company the study is, quite simply, "documentation of unconscious bias and unconscious gender stereotypes." In other words, the bias that ordinarily holds women back at work is prevalent enough that the researchers could track a measurable rise in gender equity.

Rochi rejects the idea that fathers were consciously changing their approach to benefit their own daughters. The shift happens quickly and does not look like an act of advancing one's own child. "The change happens right after the birth. A newborn daughter can't benefit from her father's hiring decisions for another 20 years, so self-interest is an unlikely explanation," Rochi said.

Instead, she argues the experience of having a daughter gives fathers a clearer understanding of women in general, and how they experience the workplace. "Our evidence fits better with a daughter making gender inequality suddenly more salient to her father," Rochi said. "He becomes more aware of it and identifies more closely with women."

No trade-off between equity and efficiency

For employers, the sharpest finding concerns performance. The study found "any significant effect" on overall workplace performance was absent. "We also find no sign of a trade-off between equity and efficiency. Managers hired women as qualified as the men they would otherwise have hired, and firm performance didn't suffer," Rochi said.

Kirk Davis, senior vice president at Client HR and a girl dad, told Fast Company the study's lesson is that, on gender, "exposure drives understanding." He said: "The more leaders see the workplace through the eyes of the women in their lives, whether daughters, spouses, colleagues, or team members, the more likely they are to recognize that equity is not about favoritism."

"It's about ensuring every talented person has a fair opportunity to contribute, grow, and lead," Davis said.

The findings align with earlier research showing male bosses with daughters may support women in the workplace in a variety of ways. Social media users have dubbed girl dads the "best bosses" — perhaps with reason.

The gap remains

One managerial life event will not close the pay gap on its own. Women still make roughly 85% of what men do, according to 2024 data from Pew Research Center, even though the gap has narrowed slightly over the past 20 years.

The study itself concludes that hiring more women alone is insufficient. "Policies aimed at shifting managers' perceptions of the social costs of gender inequality may therefore be necessary," the authors write.

The business takeaway for leadership teams is direct: when male managers gain personal exposure to gender inequality, qualified hiring and promotion of women rises without any measurable cost to firm performance. Companies that can replicate that shift in perception through policy, rather than waiting for it to arrive via the maternity ward, stand to capture both the equity and the efficiency.