Gender Norms and Development

Erica M. Field, Madeline McKelway and Alessandra Voena

No 34832, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Gender norms—shared expectations about appropriate behavior by gender—shape the outcomes of men and women across societies, and are correlated with GDP per capita. This chapter surveys the literature on gender norms and economic development, focusing on the pervasive and traditional ‘male breadwinner norm’ that assigns men to market work and women to domestic responsibilities. We review empirical approaches to measuring norms, including direct survey questions on attitudes, second-order beliefs about others' views, and behavioral proxies. Establishing causal effects of norms on behavior poses significant challenges, and we review a range of approaches to identify this link. We then present the leading hypotheses about the origins of gender norms in different forms of biological comparative advantage. We discuss societal forces sustaining norms, including self-reinforcing feedback between behavior and beliefs, other institutions, and backlash against norm violations. We highlight the bidirectional relationship between norms and development: economic growth can liberalize norms through structural transformation, legal reforms, and diffusion mechanisms, whereas talent misallocation stemming from gender norms may constrain growth. We conclude by discussing gender norms beyond the breadwinner domain, including norms around kinship, property, leadership, violence, mobility, sexuality, appearance, and behavior, and identify promising directions for future research.

JEL-codes: O10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-02
Note: DAE DEV POL
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