IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i21p11918-d666787.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Female Labour Force Participation: What Prevents Sustainable Development Goals from Being Realised in Iran?

Author

Listed:
  • Elham Taheri

    (Department of Economics, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta 99450, North Cyprus)

  • Fatma Güven Lisaniler

    (Department of Economics, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta 99450, North Cyprus)

  • Cem Payaslioğlu

    (Department of Economics, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta 99450, North Cyprus)

Abstract

Elimination of the gender gap in labour force participation has become one of the main challenges of achieving the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The rapid increase in university education and decrease in fertility rate in Iran over the past decades might affect the achievement of the SDGs. However, the country’s female labour force participation (FLFP) rate stagnates at a superficial level. The stagnating FLFP rate is inconsistent with basic labour economics supply-side explanations while drawing attention to demand-side explanations, namely, female labour demand constraints, such as occupational segregation and labour market discrimination. This study empirically investigates the effect on FLFP of primary labour supply factors along with household conditions and gender norms and attitudes for 2 specific years: 2008 and 2018. The aim is to shed light on the causes of stagnation at the FLFP level by using the Household Expenditure and Income Survey conducted annually by the Statistical Center of Iran. The empirical findings suggest gender norms and attitudes towards working women and gendered division of work associated with family care as the driving forces of stagnation in FLFP in Iran.

Suggested Citation

  • Elham Taheri & Fatma Güven Lisaniler & Cem Payaslioğlu, 2021. "Female Labour Force Participation: What Prevents Sustainable Development Goals from Being Realised in Iran?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-17, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:11918-:d:666787
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/11918/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/11918/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephan Klasen, 2019. "What Explains Uneven Female Labor Force Participation Levels and Trends in Developing Countries?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 34(2), pages 161-197.
    2. Moghadam, Fatemeh E, 1985. "An Evaluation of the Productive Performance of Agribusinesses: An Iranian Case Study," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(4), pages 755-776, July.
    3. Bergmann, Barbara R, 1971. "The Effect on White Incomes of Discrimination in Employment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(2), pages 294-313, March-Apr.
    4. Abbas Khandan & Masoud Nili, 2014. "Government interventions and the size of the informal economy. The case of Iran (1971–2007)," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 71-90, January.
    5. Nadereh Chamlou & Silvia Muzi & Hanane Ahmed, 2011. "Understanding the Determinants of Female Labor Force Participation in the Middle East and North Africa Region: The Role of Education and Social Norms in Amman," Working Papers 31, AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium.
    6. Goldin, Claudia, 2006. "The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women’s Employment, Education, and Family," Scholarly Articles 2943933, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    7. Abbas Khandan & Masoud Nili, 2014. "Government interventions and the size of the informal economy. The case of Iran (1971-2007)," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 71-90, March.
    8. Mahdi Majbouri, 2016. "Against the Wind: Labor Force Participation of Women and Economic Instability in Iran," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 31-53, October.
    9. Ebrahim Azimi, 2015. "The effect of children on female labor force participation in urban Iran," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Ragui Assaad, 2014. "Making sense of Arab labor markets: the enduring legacy of dualism," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-25, December.
    11. Miles, Rebecca, 2002. "Employment and Unemployment in Jordan: The Importance of the Gender System," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 413-427, March.
    12. Groh, Matthew & McKenzie, David & Shammout, Nour & Vishwanath, Tara, 2014. "Testing the importance of search frictions, matching, and reservation prestige through randomized experiments in Jordan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7030, The World Bank.
    13. Rana Hendy, 2015. "A Quarter Century of Changes in Labor Force Participation," Working Papers 973, Economic Research Forum, revised Nov 2015.
    14. Claudia Goldin, 2006. "The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women's Employment, Education, and Family," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 1-21, May.
    15. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    16. Hanan Nazier & Racha Ramadan, 2016. "Women's Participation in Labor Market in Egypt: Constraints and Opportunities," Working Papers 999, Economic Research Forum, revised May 2016.
    17. Majbouri Mahdi, 2015. "Female Labor Force Participation in Iran: A Structural Analysis," Review of Middle East Economics and Finance, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-23, April.
    18. Akbar Aghajanian & Sajede Vaezzade & Javad Afshar Kohan & Vaida Thompson, 2018. "Recent Trends of Marriage in Iran," The Open Family Studies Journal, Bentham Open, vol. 10(1), pages 1-8, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tadeusz Zienkiewicz & Aleksandra Zalewska & Ewa Zienkiewicz, 2023. "Spatial Diversity and Impact of Selected Factors on Women’s Labour Force Participation Rate in Poland during 2000–2020," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-16, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Caroline Krafft & Ragui Assaad, 2020. "Employment’s Role in Enabling and Constraining Marriage in the Middle East and North Africa," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(6), pages 2297-2325, December.
    2. Ragui Assaad & Rana Hendy & Moundir Lassassi & Shaimaa Yassin, 2020. "Explaining the MENA paradox: Rising educational attainment yet stagnant female labor force participation," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(28), pages 817-850.
    3. Rim Ben Mouelhi & Mohamed Goaied, 2017. "Women in the Tunisian Labor Market," Working Papers 1160, Economic Research Forum, revised 11 2017.
    4. Rita K. Almeida & Mariana Viollaz, 2023. "Women in paid employment: a role for public policies and social norms in Guatemala," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 252-279, July.
    5. Mahdi Majbouri, 2019. "Twins, family size and female labour force participation in Iran," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(4), pages 387-397, January.
    6. Pascal L. Ghazalian, 2022. "The effects of the Arab Spring on female labour force participation in the MENA region," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 869-900, October.
    7. Ishac Diwan & Irina Vartanova, 2017. "The Effect of Patriarchal Culture on Women’s Labor Force Participation," Working Papers 1101, Economic Research Forum, revised 06 Jan 2017.
    8. Ana María Iregui-Bohórquez & Ligia Alba Melo-Becerra & María Teresa Ramírez-Giraldo & Ana María Tribín-Uribe, 2020. "The path to gender equality in Colombia: Are we there yet?," Borradores de Economia 1131, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    9. Amin,Mohammad & Islam,Asif Mohammed, 2022. "The Impact of Paid Maternity Leave on Women’s Employment : Evidence Using Firm-LevelSurvey Data from Developing Countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10188, The World Bank.
    10. Fischer, Justina AV & Aydıner-Avşar, Nursel, 2015. "Are women in the MENA region really that different from women in Europe? Globalization, conservative values and female labor market participation," MPRA Paper 63800, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Mehdi Ghasemi & Mohammad Badsar & Leila Falahati & Esmail Karamidehkordi, 2021. "The mediation effect of rural women empowerment between social factors and environment conservation (combination of empowerment and ecofeminist theories)," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(9), pages 13755-13777, September.
    12. Keller, Elisa, 2019. "Labor supply and gender differences in occupational choice," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 221-241.
    13. Anne McDaniel & Thomas DiPrete & Claudia Buchmann & Uri Shwed, 2011. "The Black Gender Gap in Educational Attainment: Historical Trends and Racial Comparisons," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(3), pages 889-914, August.
    14. Maria J. Prados & Stefania Albanesi, 2011. "Inequality and Household Labor Supply," 2011 Meeting Papers 657, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    15. Herrendorf, Berthold & Rogerson, Richard & Valentinyi, Ákos, 2014. "Growth and Structural Transformation," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 6, pages 855-941, Elsevier.
    16. Benjamin Bennett & Isil Erel & Léa H. Stern & Zexi Wang, 2020. "Paid Leave Pays Off: The Effects of Paid Family Leave on Firm Performance," NBER Working Papers 27788, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Bennett, Patrick & Ravetti, Chiara & Wong, Po Yin, 2021. "Losing in a boom: Long-term consequences of a local economic shock for female labour market outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    18. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2023. "Scientific Background to the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2023," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2023-2, Nobel Prize Committee.
    19. Stephan E. Maurer & Andrei V. Potlogea, 2021. "Male‐biased Demand Shocks and Women's Labour Force Participation: Evidence from Large Oil Field Discoveries," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 88(349), pages 167-188, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:11918-:d:666787. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.