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Gender Norms and Women's Decision to Work: Evidence from Japan

Author

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  • Rodríguez-Planas, Núria

    (Queens College, CUNY)

  • Tanaka, Ryuichi

    (University of Tokyo)

Abstract

Using individual-level data from the National Family Research of Japan Survey (1999, 2004 and 2009) and exploiting variation in the share of individuals with non-traditional gender norms across birth-cohorts, survey year, education, and prefecture, we find that an increase in the share of individuals with non-traditional beliefs by one standard deviation is associated with an increase in Japanese women's decision to work by 0.016 percentage points, the equivalent of an increase of 3.4% standard deviation. Our measure of non-traditional gender norms is the share of women who disagree with the statement "men should work outside and women should look after the family". As we conduct a battery of sensitivity analyses and placebo tests, our findings suggest an impact of non- traditional norms on Japanese women's decision to work full-time.

Suggested Citation

  • Rodríguez-Planas, Núria & Tanaka, Ryuichi, 2021. "Gender Norms and Women's Decision to Work: Evidence from Japan," IZA Discussion Papers 14549, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14549
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    1. Bredtmann, Julia & Otten, Sebastian, 2025. "Natives’ gender norms and the labor market integration of female immigrants," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    culture; women's decision to work; gender norms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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