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The Causal Impact of Gender Norms on Mothers' Employment Attitudes and Expectations

Author

Listed:
  • Hermes, Henning

    (Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

  • Krauß, Marina

    (University of Augsburg)

  • Lergetporer, Philipp

    (Technical University of Munich)

  • Peter, Frauke

    (DZHW-German Centre for Research on Higher Education and Science Studies)

  • Wiederhold, Simon

    (IWH Halle)

Abstract

This field experiment investigates the causal impact of mothers' perceptions of gender norms on their employment attitudes and labor-supply expectations. We provide mothers of young children in Germany with information about the prevailing gender norm regarding maternal employment in their city. At baseline, over 70% of mothers incorrectly perceive this gender norm as too conservative. Our randomized treatment improves the accuracy of these perceptions, significantly reducing the share of mothers who misperceive gender norms as overly conservative. The treatment also shifts mothers' own labor-market attitudes towards being more liberal—and we show that specifically the shifted attitude is a strong predictor of mothers' future labor-market participation. Consistently, treated mothers are significantly more likely to plan an increase in their working hours one year ahead.

Suggested Citation

  • Hermes, Henning & Krauß, Marina & Lergetporer, Philipp & Peter, Frauke & Wiederhold, Simon, 2024. "The Causal Impact of Gender Norms on Mothers' Employment Attitudes and Expectations," IZA Discussion Papers 17543, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17543
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender norms; maternal employment; gender equality; randomized controlled trial;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments

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