Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/308051.2 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
IWH Discussion Papers No. 28/2024
Version Description: 
This version: April 23, 2025
Publisher: 
Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), Halle (Saale)
Abstract: 
This field experiment investigates the causal impact of mothers’ perceptions of gender norms on their employment attitudes and labor-supply expectations. We provide mothers of young children in Germany with information about the prevailing gender norm regarding maternal employment in their city. At baseline, over 70% of mothers incorrectly perceive this gender norm as too conservative – the most pronounced misperception among the various gender norms we examine. Our randomized information treatment improves the accuracy of these perceptions, significantly reducing the share of mothers who perceive gender norms as overly conservative. The treatment also shifts mothers’ own labor market attitudes in a more liberal direction. Leveraging the fact that we assessed attitudes in a prior survey, we show that specifically the shifted attitude is a strong predictor of mothers’ future labor-market participation. Consistently, treated mothers are more likely to plan an increase in their working hours, particularly those with existing support to facilitate their employment.
Subjects: 
gender equality
gender norms
maternal employment
randomized controlled trial
JEL: 
C93
J16
J18
J22
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size




Version History
Version Item Summary
2 10419/308051.2 This version: April 23, 2025
1 10419/308051 First version: December 18, 2024

Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.