Abstract:
Night-shift bans prevent women from working nights on equal terms with men. Though most countries repealed such bans, India retains gender-based restrictions. After 2017, several states permitted women in service-establishments to work nightshifts under administrative requirements. Exploiting this staggered rollout, we find reforms reshaped female employment composition without affecting its level. Women in treated-states were 10.1% more likely to be employed in services and 5.3% less likely in non-services. This effect is stronger in safer districts, robust to placebos and contemporaneous manufacturing reforms. Lifting this constraint may expand employment, but administrative-costs can offset these gains. We find the former dominates.
