Arbeitspapier

Social Norms and Female Labor Force Participation in Bangladesh: The Role of Social Expectations and Reference Networks

About 50% of Bangladesh's female youth working-age population is not in employment, education, or training (NEET). Reducing this number is an important policy goal. However, there is a broad consensus that pervasive gender norms hamper this goal in Bangladesh and other countries from the Global South. In this study, we analyze the social basis of support for young working women. It departs from a theoretical understanding of norms as conditional upon expectations in one's reference network. Based on vignette experiments, we show that manipulating expectations about acceptance of female employment by others influences personal support for women taking up work. Moreover, we address the question of whose views matter. Manipulating the expectation that fathers (or husbands in the case of married NEETs) support the employment of their daughters (wives) has a particularly strong effect on respondents' support. In contrast, the stance of religious authorities and peers has surprisingly little relevance. Our evidence suggests that (expectations about) traditional views of fathers and husbands regarding the role of females are a key obstacle to a higher labor force participation of young women in Bangladesh.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 16006

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making‡
Time Allocation and Labor Supply
Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology: General
Thema
Bangladesh
female labor force participation
gender norms
social expectations
survey experiments

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Bellani, Luna
Biswas, Kumar
Fehrler, Sebastian
Marx, Paul
Sabarwal, Shwetlena
Al-Zayed Josh, Syed Rashed
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
(wo)
Bonn
(wann)
2023

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:45 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Bellani, Luna
  • Biswas, Kumar
  • Fehrler, Sebastian
  • Marx, Paul
  • Sabarwal, Shwetlena
  • Al-Zayed Josh, Syed Rashed
  • Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Entstanden

  • 2023

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