Gender identity and market and non-market work of married women: evidence from Japan

This study examines whether the gender identity, “a wife should not earn more than her husband,” affects the market work and non-market work of married women in Japan. Empirical analyses used the data from the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers (1993–2016) revealed that: 1) The distribution of the wives’ relative incomes (the share of the couple’s income earned by the wife) exhibits a sharp drop at the point of 50%, where the wives’ income exceed the husbands’ income; 2) Wives with a high potential for earning more than their husbands are more likely to refrain from entering the job market to avoid deviating from the gender identity. However, when they do choose to work, they do not manage their income to avoid violating the gender identity; and, 3) Wives’ hours of non-market work, such as housework and childcare, increase when the wives’ relative incomes exceed approximately 60–72%. Although the impacts of the gender identity on market work diminished after the 2008 financial crisis, the gender identity influenced non-market work more strongly after the crisis. Married women dedicated more hours to housework to mitigate the costs of deviating from the gender identity caused by participating in the labor market after the crisis.