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

Luna Bellani, Kumar Biswas (), Sebastian Fehrler, Paul Marx (), Shwetlena Sabarwal () and Syed Rashed Al-Zayed Josh
Additional contact information
Kumar Biswas: University of Chicago
Paul Marx: University of Bonn
Shwetlena Sabarwal: World Bank
Syed Rashed Al-Zayed Josh: World Bank

No 16006, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: Bangladesh; female labor force participation; gender norms; social expectations; survey experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D91 J16 J22 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2023-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-gen, nep-lab and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp16006.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16006

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().