Norms Behind Closed Doors: A Field Experiment on Gender Norm Misperceptions and Maternal Employment Decisions in Couples

We study whether pluralistic ignorance about societal and spousal support for maternal employment sustains gender gaps in women’s labour-market outcomes. Using a representative sample of 1,732 cohabiting couples with young children in Bogotá, we document near-universal first-order support for working mothers but substantial underestimation of others’ support, especially that of fathers, and frequent misperceptions of the partner’s views. We then implement a randomised information intervention that delivers personalised feedback on prevailing local attitudes toward maternal employment. The intervention narrows key second-order belief gaps about community and spousal support, while leaving first-order attitudes essentially unchanged. Treated men are more likely than control men to nominate their wife rather than themselves for a career-building course. One to two months later, treated women report more intensive job search and treated men place greater weight on work–family balance. Effects are concentrated among women who are already active in the labour market, underscoring both the potential and the limits of norm-correcting information in a context with high support for women’s work but large misperceptions