The present paper analyzes the effect of childbirth on Spanish women’s decisions to withdraw
from paid work, defined here as the transition from employment to out of the labor force due to
the requirements of household production. Decisions regarding fertility and labor market
participation are interrelated and depend on individual and household characteristics, as well as
external variables such as the availability of childcare services. We postulate that a female’s
decision to leave the labor market is taken in a household context, and thus is the outcome
which maximizes household welfare after taking into account the employment and earnings
characteristics of all household members. We pay special attention to the effect of the male
partner’s characteristics upon the female’s decision to withdraw from the labor market. Our
empirical results show that in order to better define social and labor market policies on work and
family reconciliation, increased attention should be paid to the job characteristics of males given
their effect on the optimal assignment of tasks within the household following childbirth.