What Do Others Think? Norm Beliefs and Women’s Work in Pakistan

Female labor force participation in LMICs remains persistently low, despite improvements in women’s education, fertility, and income that would normally predict higher participation. We argue that this pattern can reflect a coordination failure sustained by miscalibrated second-order beliefs about community approval of women working outside the home. In many households, a woman’s employment is determined by more than one decision-maker, and each may care about the perceived approval of both men and women in the community. Therefore, the binding misperception can lie in any of four belief cells: men’s beliefs about men, men’s beliefs about women, women’s beliefs about men, or women’s beliefs about women. We study these possibilities using novel primary survey data from more than 4,000 low-income Pakistani households. Within households, we elicit each respondent’s own support for women’s work, second-order beliefs about community support, and the target woman’s labor-market behavior, comparing households within the same census block. We find that support for women’s work is widely underestimated, especially support among women, so communities are substantially more accepting than their members believe. The belief most strongly associated with a woman’s search and work history is her own perception of other women’s approval. Male household members’ beliefs matter mainly for women’s current employment status, consistent with their role in granting permission. The belief that appears most important is also correlated across generations along gender lines: mothers’ beliefs about women predict daughters’ beliefs about women. Evidence on mechanisms points most strongly to social learning about respectability rather than the anticipation of social sanctions from other women.