Misperceived Social Norms: Women Working Outside the Home in Saudi Arabia

Leonardo Bursztyn, Alessandra L. González and David Yanagizawa-Drott

American Economic Review, 2020, vol. 110, issue 10, 2997-3029

Abstract: We show that the vast majority of young married men in Saudi Arabia privately support women working outside the home (WWOH) and substantially underestimate support by other similar men. Correcting these beliefs increases men's (costly) willingness to help their wives search for jobs. Months later, wives of men whose beliefs were corrected are more likely to have applied and interviewed for a job outside the home. In a recruitment experiment with a local company, randomly informing women about actual support for WWOH leads them to switch from an at-home temporary enumerator job to a higher-paying, outside-the-home version of the job.

JEL-codes: D83 J16 J22 O15 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (229)

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DOI: 10.1257/aer.20180975

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