The fact that women are primarily responsible for childcare and household chores can be due to intrinsic gender differences in talent for these tasks or to differences in external constraints. Research under this theme will tell between the two explanations and identify the relevant constraints, including laws, social norms, and discrimination in the labour market, as well as the possibility of violence increasing the costs of working outside the home, shifting from the informal to the formal sector or migrating to urban areas. What determines the adoption of equal opportunity laws? What is the role of social and legal institutions for women’s work? How do norms on female work vary across time and between societies and how do they change? How do norms on insurance and the expectation that women care about their relatives discourage women to choose high- paying jobs?
Despite being the only region in the world where there are more female entrepreneurs than men, the vast majority of female-owned businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa are microenterprises and women’s businesses earn 34% lower profits than...
The labour market participation rate for women in India is significantly low, with only 25 women for every 100 men being engaged in the workforce. This striking disparity is far below the global average of 66.7 women for every 100 men. Existing data...
Women’s participation in the labour market increases economic growth at both the national and firm level, yet women worldwide still face significant labour market challenges. Current research on women’s labour market experience in developing...
Female labour force participation in developing countries like India is low and has been falling (Klasen and Pieters 2015; Fletcher et al. 2017). Safer workplaces may encourage more women to apply for work (Sudarshan and Bhattacharya 2009;...
Information asymmetry on the part of job seekers or applicants and employers may lead to skills mismatches that increase gender inequality in labour markets. Can online labour markets close gender gaps in employment by smoothing information...
Access to quality inputs is critical to boosting agricultural productivity. However, quantitative research (Tjernström et al 2017; Bold et al 2017; Ashour et al 2019) and news reports (Muchiri 2019; Okinda 2019) find that the quality of...
When social networks generate redistributive pressures, labor supply decisions are undertaken in a social context. Individuals who optimize labor supply do so with the understanding that some of their earnings may be subject to taxation within the...
