Gender Roles and Medical Progress

Abstract

Maternal mortality was the second-largest cause of death for women in childbearing years until the mid-1930s in the United States. For each death, 20 times as many mothers suffered pregnancy-related conditions, which made it hard for them to engage in market work. Between 1930 and 1960 there was a remarkable improvement in maternal health. We argue that this development, by enabling women to reconcile work and motherhood, was essential for the joint rise in women’s labor force participation and fertility over this period. We also show that the diffusion of infant formula played an important auxiliary role.