Traditional Norms, Access to Divorce and Women’s Empowerment: Evidence from Indonesia

Social norms can interact with formal institutions in shaping women’s autonomy. We examine this question in the context of legal reforms and their differentiated impact on divorce and empowerment across traditional modes of post-marital cohabitation. Global evidence first shows that the degree of ancestral matrilocality (i.e. the practice of living with the bride’s relatives after marriage) correlates with contemporaneous opinions about gender role. This is especially the case in countries with low divorce rates such as Indonesia. We then exploit a policy experiment for this country, which exogenously fosters women’s access to justice and ability to divorce. We theoretically establish how women originating from matrilocal ethnic groups should respond to the reform compared to those from patrilocal ethnicities. We confirm the model predictions using a panel difference-in-difference approach: the former divorce more and, when in stable marriages, experience a significant improvement in well-being and empowerment. This result is consistently obtained for a broad range of outcomes including women’s health, fertility control, asset value, women’s and children’s well-being as well as women’s final say over key decisions. Modern legal reforms compound with ancestral norms and exacerbate potential inequalities between women of different ethnic origins. This conclusion calls for better tailored policies that can transcend cultural contexts and overcome the adherence to informal laws.(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)