Breaking Barriers via Refugees: Cultural Transmission and Women’s Economic Empowerment

Mevlude Akbulut-Yuksel (), Abdurrahman Aydemir, Murat Güray Kirdar () and Belgi Turan ()
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Mevlude Akbulut-Yuksel: Dalhousie University
Murat Güray Kirdar: Koc University
Belgi Turan: TOBB University of Economy and Technology

No 17871, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper examines the horizontal transmission of gender norms using the forced migration of ethnic Turks from Bulgaria to Türkiye after the fall of the Iron Curtain as a natural experiment. Despite shared linguistic and religious ties, migrant women held more progressive gender norms and stronger labor market attachment than native Turkish women. Their arrival increased labor market participation among native women, particularly in male-dominated manufacturing, while men’s outcomes remained unchanged. Additionally, native women’s fertility declined, and middle school attainment rose, aligning with refugee women’s patterns. Exposure to progressive norms reshaped native women's roles in work and family life.

Keywords: culture; horizontal transmission; social learning; migration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J15 J16 N45 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ara, nep-his, nep-inv, nep-lab and nep-mig
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