Gender norms around women’s work

The challenge​

Gender norms strongly limit women’s opportunities and labour force participation worldwide. In Indonesia, social norms are highly conservative: 43% of men prefer women to stay home, and 76% of men and 74% of women believe men have greater right to jobs, up sharply since 2006. Unlike many countries showing declining conservatism, Indonesia is becoming more traditional. These norms pose significant barriers to gender equality, yet evidence on effective strategies to positively influence and change such social norms remains very limited.

The research​

In this project we conducted a set of online surveys to measure the extent of support for women with children working outside the home for pay and then investigated whether the provision of information regarding the level of community support for women working and husbands and wives sharing childcare can help increase support for women’s labour force participation.

The impact​

Highlighting community support for women working can shift social norms and increase female labour force participation. The intervention was especially effective among men whose wives were not employed, addressing the common belief that women’s primary role is childcare. About 20% of women do not work due to their husband’s preferences. Such interventions could raise female participation by over 10%, significant in a context where it has stagnated at 50% for decades. Light-touch, low-cost, scalable campaigns can effectively change attitudes and expand women’s opportunities.

Our researchers

Lisa Cameron and Diana Contreras Suarez - Melbourne Institute

Diahhadi Setyonaluri - Universitas Indonesia

Our partners

The World Bank

J-PAL, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab

Publications