Economic activity of women and young women in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the umbrella of traditional views of women’s role in society

Female labour force participation (FLFP) stands among main gender equality issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Although making up about half of the total working-age population, less than one third of women is active. High female economic inactivity is argued to relate to the pertaining traditional views on gender roles in the society. This article investigates whether such views impact the activity of women. Furthermore, the article investigates whether perceptions of the existence of gender stereotypes on the labour market influences women’s economic activity. Finally, the article investigates whether differences of such an impact exist between young and adult women and how they are being manifested. The research model is based on a log-log regression analysis performed on a sample of 1,213 interviewed women through the 2017 wave of the National Survey of Citizens’ Perceptions (NSCP-BiH). Our findings indicate that traditional views on women’s role in society act as an important moderator of woman’s economic activity, and hence, shape the overall labour environment and economic development in BiH. Although perceiving that the BiH labour market is biased towards men, women in BiH are not discouraged by such a stance when their labour market participation is considered.