What Do Others Think? Norm Beliefs and Women’s Work in Pakistan

Hira Kaleem (), Anri Sakakibara (), Waqar Wadho and Abu Siddique ()
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Hira Kaleem: Lahore School of Economics
Anri Sakakibara: Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Abu Siddique: Royal Holloway & IFS

Munich Papers in Political Economy from Munich School of Politics and Public Policy and the School of Management at the Technical University of Munich

Abstract: Female labor force participation in LMICs remains persistently low, despite improvements in women’s education, fertility, and income that would normally predict higher participation. We argue that this pattern can reflect a coordination failure sustained by miscalibrated second-order beliefs about community approval of women working outside the home. In many households, a woman’s employment is determined by more than one decision-maker, and each may care about the perceived approval of both men and women in the community. Therefore, the binding misperception can lie in any of four belief cells: men’s beliefs about men, men’s beliefs about women, women’s beliefs about men, or women’s beliefs about women. We study these possibilities using novel primary survey data from more than 4,000 low-income Pakistani households. Within households, we elicit each respondent’s own support for women’s work, second-order beliefs about community support, and the target woman’s labor-market behavior, comparing households within the same census block. We find that support for women’s work is widely underestimated, especially support among women, so communities are substantially more accepting than their members believe. The belief most strongly associated with a woman’s search and work history is her own perception of other women’s approval. Male household members’ beliefs matter mainly for women’s current employment status, consistent with their role in granting permission. The belief that appears most important is also correlated across generations along gender lines: mothers’ beliefs about women predict daughters’ beliefs about women. Evidence on mechanisms points most strongly to social learning about respectability rather than the anticipation of social sanctions from other women.

Keywords: women working outside the home; social norms; misperceptions; second-order beliefs; pluralistic ignorance; peer effects; Pakistan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 D83 J16 J22 O12 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 59 pages
Date: 2026-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-soc
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Working Paper: What Do Others Think? Norm Beliefs And Women's Work In Pakistan (2026)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aiw:wpaper:50

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