Approval of Equal Rights and Gender Differences in Well-Being

Rafael Lalive and Alois Stutzer

No 1245, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: Women earn less than men but are not less satisfied with life. This paper argues that norms on the appropriate pay for women compared to men explain these findings. We take citizens’ approval of an equal rights amendment to the Swiss constitution as a proxy for the norm that “women and men shall have the right to equal pay for work of equal value”. We find that the gender wage gap narrows by one fifth due to an increase by one standard deviation in the approval. Rejecting an explanation in terms of discrimination, we find that employed women are less (not more) satisfied with life in liberal communities where the gender wage gap is smaller.

Keywords: equal rights; gender discrimination; gender wage gap; social norms; subjective well-being. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 J16 J31 J70 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Approval of equal rights and gender differences in well-being (2010)
Working Paper: Approval of Equal Rights and Gender - Differences in Well-Being (2007)
Working Paper: Approval of Equal Rights and Gender Differences in Well-Being (2004)
Working Paper: Approval of Equal Rights and Gender Differences in Well-Being
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1245

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