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Social Norms as a Barrier to Women’s Employment in Developing Countries

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Abstract

This article discusses cultural barriers to women’s participation and success in the labor market in developing countries. I begin by discussing the relationship between economic development and female employment and argue that cultural norms help explain the large differences in female employment among countries at the same level of development. I then examine several gender-related social norms that constrain women’s employment and present examples of policies aimed at overcoming these barriers. Some of the policies are designed to work around a norm, helping women to be more successful in the labor market despite it, while others attempt to change the norms. There is evidence that both approaches can be effective in increasing women’s labor market participation and earnings. Policy-making that is attuned to cultural norms is a promising avenue for narrowing gender gaps in the labor market.

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Notes

  1. The statistics are for labor force participation, most studies I discuss assess employment. The distinction is that labor force participants also include those who are actively looking for employment but are not currently employed. I will use the terms interchangeably and usually mean employment. Note that the International Labour Organization’s definition of labor force participation includes work based at home for payment in cash or in kind, including on a farm.

  2. Gender norms restrict female employment in both developed and developing countries. A thorough discussion of developed countries is beyond the scope I have delineated for this article, though I do discuss some foundational papers about developed countries, particularly on topics where there is limited evidence from developing countries.

  3. Alternatively, one could couch the U-shape theory as saying the norms evolve with economic development, following the U-shape. This does not seem to fit the data. Jayachandran (2015) shows that stated attitudes about female employment are quite strongly negatively correlated with a country’s income. The relationship is monotonic, not U-shaped.

  4. Becker (2019) proposes another way that historical economic activity may have shaped gender norms, but with implications for restrictions on women’s sexuality rather than employment. She shows that societies that were pastoralist restrict women’s sexual freedom today. The proposed explanation is that men’s long absences from home increased uncertainty about paternity, which led to practices to constrain women’s sexual activity such as female genital mutilation.

  5. One reason the transition to agriculture may have increased fertility is that it increased income, and there was a positive income effect on fertility. See Hansen et al. (2015) for a discussion of other reasons.

  6. Koomson (2017) discusses how a similar proscription against married women working with men within the Talensi culture in Ghana limits women’s access to jobs in mining, because mining pits are considered secluded. In contrast, fields are in plain view, so gender mixing within agriculture is common and accepted.

  7. A second video shown to families highlighted the non-monetary benefits of employment such as personal growth and self-confidence for the woman. A second intervention in the study facilitated a conversation between the teacher and her family about the pros and cons of her working.

  8. The study also finds that, in couples where the woman’s earning potential is higher than the man’s, perversely, the gender gap in time spent on home production is larger. This finding echoes the findings of Bittman et al. (2003).

  9. I do not review the literature on family planning programs in this article, but by enabling couples to choose the number and timing of births, such policies can expand women’s employment opportunities. In addition, there is a large literature on norms about fertility, which is beyond the scope of this article.

  10. One norm the program aimed to shift was around the responsibility for household chores, aiming to convince boys that they should also contribute. Arguably, this norm around household work, including child care, is one of the most relevant for women’s participation in the labor market across all societies worldwide.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Christine Cai, Rebecca Dizon-Ross, and Akhila Kovvuri for helpful comments and UNU WIDER for providing financial support for this work.

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  1. Department of Economics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Seema Jayachandran

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Jayachandran, S. Social Norms as a Barrier to Women’s Employment in Developing Countries. IMF Econ Rev 69, 576–595 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41308-021-00140-w

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