Gendered Realities: Exploring the Dynamics of Social Norms
Paper Session
Friday, Jan. 5, 2024 12:30 PM - 2:15 PM (CST)
- Chair: Joyce Jacobsen, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Gender Norms, Crime Against Women and Female Employment
Abstract
Existing studies show that a rise in Crime against Women (CAW) lowers female labour force participation (FLFP). These studies argue that CAW increases a woman’s expected cost of working. The increase in cost is the consequence of physical injury and mental trauma due to the crime. Women respond to the increase in the expected cost by withdrawing from work. However, this argument implicitly assumes that women are free to make their choices and decisions. It is contrary to our understanding of the patriarchal system. Although the studies recognize the role of gender norms, yet the very nature of the argument necessitates that these norms work through their internalization by women themselves. The present study identifies a second mechanism which can explain the causal relationship between CAW and FLFP without contradicting our understanding of patriarchy. It is argued that gender norms work by controlling female sexuality. CAW being linked to female sexuality is perceived to damage the social status of the victim’s family. Hence, the families respond to the rise in CAW by restricting women’s mobility which includes forbidding women from being employed. We call it the indirect effect of CAW. The second mechanism predicts a higher effect of CAW on female employment among groups with more stringent gender norms. The present study uses this prediction to test the possibility of indirect effect by examining the impact of CAW on FLFP across caste and marital status in India. The results show that CAW has a significant negative effect on FLFP among groups having relatively stringent gender norms. In contrast, the effect is insignificant for the groups with less restrictive gender norms. The findings suggest that the indirect effect may be the primary reason behind the negative effect of CAW on FLFP in India.Gendered Social Norms and Microenterprise Efficiency: Evidence from Workspace Choice and Household Dynamics in Mexico
Abstract
We examine the gender efficiency gap using the Kitagawa-Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition to examine differences in endowments and returns to endowments. We include traditional explanatory variables for firm performance, including owner education, age, motivation, and industry, while considering how gender norms may influence efficiency through marital status, responsibility for unpaid household work, and workspace. We find that differences in returns to endowments, rather than differences in endowments themselves, explain almost the entirety of the gender efficiency gap, with the largest effects associated with variables proxying gendered social norms. Returns to marriage significantly contribute to widening the efficiency gap between men and women. Women owners are also much more likely to report working from home and doing chores, and we find significant evidence that the returns to working from home contribute to widening the gender gap. We argue that social expectations regarding women's role in the household may help explain why a much larger share of women-owned microenterprises operate from home, as it allows them to pursue both paid work and unpaid household work but adversely impacts their efficiency. These findings highlight the necessity of centering gender in any policies aimed at improving microenterprise performance, as social norms regarding gender roles may structure and constrain the actual capabilities of microenterprise owners.Communication Between Partial Migrated Household and Left-behind Women's Labor Market Participation
Abstract
The large income gap between urban and rural areas in China has created an incentive for rural married men to migrate to urban areas for higher income and leave their wives behind. The literature shows mixed results on the impact of husband’s migration on left-behind women’s labor market participation. This paper focuses on communication between separated couples and its impact on the labor market participation of left-behind wives. The research uses cell tower establishment as an exogenous impact that changes communication between separated couples. It contributes to the literature which investigates partially migrated households’ communication and the decision power of the left behind women. The study utilizes both a two-way fixed effect model and also a difference-in-difference with multiple treatment periods to take into consideration the multiple treatment periods of cell tower establishment. By using Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data and gender role preference variable which measures how much women’s labor market participation is preferred, the study results show that an increase in communication between separated couples decreases labor market participation for left-behind women. This impact holds for migrated husbands with conservative gender role preferences and left behind wives with progressive gender role preferences. However, for preference-matching couples, there is no change in labor market participation for left-behind women. The result implies that increased monitoring by migrated husbands with conservative gender role preference shifted progressive gender role preferred left behind women’s labor market participation decision to more closely align with what their husband prefers.Discussant(s)
Edith Kuiper
,
SUNY-New Paltz
Joyce Jacobsen
,
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Belinda Roman
,
St. Mary's University
Joyce Jacobsen
,
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
JEL Classifications
- J1 - Demographic Economics
- L2 - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior