Education, Social Norms, and the Marriage Penalty: Evidence from South Asia

doi:10.1596/1813-9450-10946

Publication:
Education, Social Norms, and the Marriage Penalty: Evidence from South Asia

dc.contributor.author	Bussolo, Maurizio
dc.contributor.author	Rexer, Jonah
dc.contributor.author	Triyana, Margaret
dc.date.accessioned	2024-10-16T13:47:09Z
dc.date.available	2024-10-16T13:47:09Z
dc.date.issued	2024-10-16
dc.description.abstract	A growing literature attributes gender inequality in labor market outcomes in part to the reduction in female labor supply after childbirth, the child penalty. However, if social norms constrain married women’s activities outside the home, then marriage can independently reduce employment, even in the absence childbearing. Given the correlation in timing between childbirth and marriage, conventional estimates of child penalties will conflate these two effects. The paper studies the marriage penalty in South Asia, a context featuring conservative gender norms and low female labor force participation. The study introduces a split-sample, pseudo-panel approach that allows for the separation of marriage and child penalties even in the absence of individual-level panel data. Marriage reduces women’s labor force participation in South Asia by 12 percentage points, whereas the marginal penalty of childbearing is small. Consistent with the central roles of both opportunity costs and social norms, the marriage penalty is smaller among cohorts with higher education and less conservative gender attitudes.	en
dc.identifier	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099310110072427893/IDU196e9729d1933114282196bc1b0d91dd9f24d
dc.identifier.doi	10.1596/1813-9450-10946
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10986/42252
dc.language	English
dc.language.iso	en_US
dc.publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
dc.relation.ispartofseries	Policy Research Working Paper; 10946
dc.rights	CC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holder	World Bank
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/
dc.subject	FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION
dc.subject	GENDER INEQUALITY
dc.subject	GENDER ATTITUDE
dc.subject	GENDER EQUALITY
dc.subject	SDG 5
dc.subject	DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
dc.subject	SDG 8
dc.title	Education, Social Norms, and the Marriage Penalty	en
dc.title.subtitle	Evidence from South Asia	en
dc.type	Working Paper
dspace.entity.type	Publication
okr.crossref.title	Education, Social Norms, and the Marriage Penalty: Evidence from South Asia
okr.date.disclosure	2024-10-16
okr.date.lastmodified	2024-10-07T00:00:00Z	en
okr.doctype	Policy Research Working Paper
okr.doctype	Publications & Research
okr.docurl	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099310110072427893/IDU196e9729d1933114282196bc1b0d91dd9f24d
okr.guid	099310110072427893
okr.identifier.docmid	IDU-96e9729d-9331-4282-96bc-b0d91dd9f24d
okr.identifier.doi	10.1596/1813-9450-10946
okr.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-10946
okr.identifier.externaldocumentum	34400802
okr.identifier.internaldocumentum	34400802
okr.identifier.report	WPS10946
okr.import.id	5466
okr.imported	true	en
okr.language.supported	en
okr.pdfurl	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099310110072427893/pdf/IDU196e9729d1933114282196bc1b0d91dd9f24d.pdf	en
okr.region.geographical	South Asia
okr.topic	Gender::Gender and Economics
okr.topic	Gender::Gender and Social Development
okr.topic	Macroeconomics and Economic Growth::Economic Growth
okr.topic	Social Protections and Labor::Employment and Unemployment
okr.unit	Office of the Chief Economist (SARCE)
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