Empowering women through radio: Evidence from Occupied Japan

I study the impact of women’s radio programs that the US-led occupying force aired nationwide in Occupied Japan (1945–1952) to dismantle the prewar patriarchal norms. From the perspective of the economics of identity, the radio messages can be viewed as attempts to alter gendered identity norms, and thus to shift women’s political, economic and family outcomes. Using local variation in radio signal strength driven by soil conditions as an instrumental variable, I show that greater exposure to women’s radio programs increased women’s electoral turnout, and the vote share for female candidates, highlighting women’s votes matter. I find no effects on women’s labor market outcomes, but exposure to women’s radio programs accelerated the postwar fertility transition. Overall, disseminating pro-gender-equality messages can have significant implications for both women’s lives and society at large, potentially paving the way for rapid economic growth that would follow.