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Gender norms and women’s decision to work: evidence from Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Núria Rodríguez-Planas

    (City University of New York (CUNY), Queens College)

  • Ryuichi Tanaka

    (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

  • Núria Rodríguez-Planas & Ryuichi Tanaka, 2022. "Gender norms and women’s decision to work: evidence from Japan," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 15-36, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:20:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s11150-021-09543-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11150-021-09543-0
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    Cited by:

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender norms; Women’s decision to work; Culture;
    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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