Frontier History and Gender Norms in the United States

Samuel Bazzi, Abel Brodeur, Martin Fiszbein and Joanne Haddad

No 18069, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: This paper explores how historical gender roles become entrenched as norms over the long run. In the historical United States, gender roles on the frontier looked starkly different from those in settled areas. Male-biased sex ratios led to higher marriage rates for women and lower for men. Land abundance favored higher fertility. The demands of childcare, compounded with isolation from extended family as well as a lack of social and market infrastructure, constrained female opportunities outside the home. Frontier women were less likely to report "gainful employment", but among those who did, relatively more had high-status occupations. Together, these findings integrate contrasting narratives about frontier women---some emphasizing their entrepreneurial independence, others their prevailing domesticity. The distinctive frontier gender roles, in turn, shaped norms over the long run. Counties with greater historical frontier exposure exhibit lower female labor force participation through the 21st century. Time use data suggests this does not come with additional leisure but rather with more household work. These gender inequalities are accompanied by weaker political participation among women. While the historical frontier may have been empowering for some women, its predominant domesticity reinforced inegalitarian gender norms over the long run.

Keywords: Culture; Fertility; Marriage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J13 J22 N31 N91 O15 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-04
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP18069 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Working Paper: Frontier History and Gender Norms in the United States (2024)
Working Paper: Frontier History and Gender Norms in the United States (2023)
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:cpr:ceprdp:18069

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP18069

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().