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Cultural Factors in Women’s Labor Force Participation in Chile Dante Contreras and Gonzalo Plaza Feminist Economics 16(2), April 2010, 27-46
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Page 1: Cultural Factors in Women’s Labor Force Participation in Chilesiteresources.worldbank.org/EXTABCDE/Resources/7455676... · Cultural Factors in Women’s Labor Force Participation

Cultural Factors in Women’s Labor Force Participation in

Chile

Dante Contreras and Gonzalo PlazaFeminist Economics 16(2), April 2010, 27-46

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This paper…• We do not have any kind of experiment

• We do not have either a change in policy as identification strategy. [Duflo (2001) and Berlinski and Galiani (2007)]

– Hard to identify the causal link between participation and cultural factors.

• We do estimate a “standard economic” model and we examine how this model changes when cultural factors are included.

• Quite simple paper, still informative.

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Contribution of this paper

• This paper contributes with evidence on the link between female labor participation and cultural attitudes.

• We model FLP as a function of:

– Standard factors (age, education, number of children, and marital status)

– Cultural factors.

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Mainstream Economic approach• Labor Economist model [consumption of goods and leisure] women's

participation in the labor force as:

– Wm > Wr → participation=1– Wm < Wr → participation=0

• Wm: human capital (education, experience, etc)• Wr: restrictions (# children, presence of a partner, child care centers, etc.)

• Economic Models do not take into account cultural variables.

• Cultural factors may play a significant role to ward a broader understanding of gender aspects on economic choices.

• Social and cultural characteristics may define expected female behavior traditional gender-related activities: such as childrearing, caring for the sick and aged, and domestic work

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Some data and motivation• Why female labour force participation is so low in Chile

even among women with higher education?

• Chile’s female labor participation rate is significantly lower from those of (OECD) and Asian countries and other nations within Latin America.

• This relationship is robust considering the different age and educational structures within the population.

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This is an important topic to consider for at least three reasons

• Understand behavior/choices/constraints (correlated with cultural factors)

• Female participation makes the labor market more competitive.

• Finally, increases in female participation in the lower income deciles can have a statistically significant impact on poverty indicators adding a new income to the hh.

• [See Ganuza, Paes de Barros, Taylor, and Voss (2001) and Bravo and Contreras (2004)].

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Previous evidence• Lucía Pardo (1987); Eugenia Muchnik, Isabel Vial,

Andreas Stüver, and Bettina Harbart (1991); Pablo García (1995); and Rodrigo Caputo (1997) have presented evidence using cross-section Chilean data on variables that might explain female participation in the labor force.

• The evidence suggests that education, age, number of children, and living in rural areas are important explanatory variables for accounting for the behavior/opportunities of women in the labor market.

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More evidence…• Contreras et. al. (JID, 2005)

• The authors examine dynamic determinants of female participationthrough an analysis of synthetic cohorts of women between the ages of 16 and 60, breaking down the participation rate by age, year, and cohort.

• We conclude that age has the greatest impact on female participation, presenting a concave pattern with the highest rate of participation at 36 years of age.

• The cohort effect would suggest that women who belong to the younger cohorts exhibit greater participation.

• We also estimate determinants of the participation rate by cohort, finding that female participation in Chile is positively related to education levels and negatively related to the number of children.

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However• The previous models explain a relatively small part of

Chilean women’s decision to participate in the workforce because they fail to consider other variables such as cultural factors.

• Cultural factors [models of the family and men and women’s social roles; masculine and feminine models transmitted by the family of origin; the presence or absence of a working mother; and parents who were critical or uncritical of the gender order] may play a significant role.

• There is insufficient evidence in previous studies on the link between labor force participation and certain cultural attitudes in Chile and Latin America; there is also a lack of adequate data for examining this hypothesis.

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Evidence on cultural factors• Araújo and Scalon (2005) present a summary of evidence on cultural

characteristics in Brazil.

– Evidence indicates less machismo of younger generations, but still an important sector of the population continues to maintain more conservative cultural positions

– The preliminary evidence suggests cultural values are in transition affecting the labor market decisions made by both men and women.

• Antecol (2003) International Social Survey Programme(1994) to analyze determinants of female labor participation rates in countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Oceania, and North America. The study incorporates cultural aspects:

– The evidence indicates that women are more likely to participate in the labor market if their male partners exhibit greater cultural acceptance of such behavior.

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This paper• Data: International Social Survey Programme(2002)

• Age: 18-60

• Human capital + cultural variables

• We have developed two indexes that measure cultural characteristics:

– The first variable measures whether or not a woman has internalized machista cultural values.

– The second classifies a woman with conservative attitudes.

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Table 2 Female Perception of Machista Cultural Context (FPMCC) Index Statement Agree/

Moderately agree

Disagree/ Moderately

disagree Both the man and the woman should contribute to the family’s income.

X

The man’s job is to earn money and the woman’s job is to take care of the home and the family.

X

Men should take on more responsibility in domestic work than they currently do.

X

Men should take on more responsibility for childcare than they currently do.

X

Note: FPMCC has a value of one if the individual marks all of the boxes marked X and a value of zero otherwise.

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Table 3 Female values index (conservative woman) Statement Agree/

Moderately agree

Disagree/ Moderately

disagree People who want to have children should get married.

X

A single father or mother can raise a child just as successfully as two parents together.

X

It is acceptable for a couple to live together even if they have no intention of getting married.

X

It is a good idea for couples who plan to get married to live together first.

X

Divorce is generally the best solution when a couple seems to be unable to resolve their marital problems.

X

Note: The female values index (conservative) has a value of one if the individual marks all of the boxes marked with an X and a value of zero otherwise.

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Table 1 Descriptive statistics

Variables Mean Standard Dev. Dependent variable Female labor participation rate 0.52 0.5 Human capital Education 10.2 4.1 Age 38.3 11.9 Marital status Married =1 0.54 0.5 Partner =1 0.65 0.47 Minors/ children Children under the age of 4 0.4 0.69 Number of children 2 1.55 Cultural Factors Female perception of machista cultural context (FPMCC)d =1 0.44 0.5 Female values index (conservative)4 =1 0.62 0.48

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Table 4 Women and cultural factors: FPMCC and female values index Variable FPMCCM (%) Conservative (%)

Age 18–24 27 49 25–40 44 62 41–60 51 67 Education 0–8 67 70 9–12 35 55 13–17 25 60 18–more 17 61 Marital status Married 49 69 Not married 39 54

Partner 50 65

No partner 34 57 Individual incomea

0–35,000 53 64

35,001–100,000 48 61

100,001–358,000 38 61

358,001–more 30 65

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The model

• Where – A is a matrix that represents standard variables, such as

education, age, age squared, number of children, presence of a partner, and regional dummies.

– B is a matrix that represents cultural and values-related variables. Finally, μi is the error term.

• The inclusion of cultural variables in the model of women’s participation in the labor market is relevant given that we expect cultural characteristics to have a statistically significant impact on women’s behavior.

Yi = α + β A + χ B + µi

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A discussion on causality• Do cultural attitudes cause female labor force

participation or vice versa?

– Cultural norms may “cause” women to participate in the labor market. For example, conservative social norms may reduce women’s participation.

– But the opposite: Female labor participation may “cause” cultural norms is also feasible.

• Seguino (2007) argue that cultural norms “cause” female participation in the short run and that female participation can influence social gender attitudes over time.

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Then…• We are not making claims regarding the direction of

causality. However, based on previous evidence, we argue that it would take longer for labor force participation to change cultural attitudes than for attitudes to influence labor force participation.

• Therefore, in the short run, cultural attitudes at least partially determine labor force participation.

• The results also may be interpreted as suggesting correlations between female labor participation and cultural factors.

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RESULTS

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Table 5 Estimate of female participation in the labor market (changes in probability) 1 2 3 4 5 6 Years of schooling 0.031*** 0.029*** 0.024*** 0.027*** 0.025*** 0.022*** [0.006] [0.006] [0.006] [0.006] [0.006] [0.007] Age 0.055*** 0.075*** 0.077*** 0.076*** 0.058*** 0.079*** [0.013] [0.014] [0.014] [0.014] [0.013] [0.015] Age squared -0.001*** -0.001*** -0.001*** -0.001*** -0.001*** -0.001*** [0.000] [0.000] [0.000] [0.000] [0.000] [0.000] Children under the age 4 -0.058+ -0.05 -0.057+ -0.054 -0.068** -0.076** [0.034] [0.033] [0.033] [0.034] [0.034] [0.034] Has a partner = 1 -0.236*** -0.229*** -0.23*** -0.227*** [0.049] [0.050] [0.050] [0.051] Female Perception of Machista Cultural Context = 1 -0.127*** -0.124** -0.123** [0.048] [0.048] [0.051] Female values (conservative) = 1 -0.114** -0.108** -0.113** [0.048] [0.047] [0.050] Regional dummies No No No No No Yes Observations 526 526 526 526 526 526 Note: Robust standard errors in brackets * statistically significant at 10%; ** statistically significant at 5%; ***statistically

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Results

• The results are consistent with previous evidence:

– Education increase the probability of women participating in the labor force.

– Age and participation concave pattern– The presence of children who are not yet of school-going age

has a negative impact on the probability of participation in the labor market.

– The fact that a woman has a partner (that she is married or living with someone) significantly reduces participation.

– Signs + magnitude

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More results• The evidence indicates that women who have more traditional

attitudes toward gender roles exhibit lower labor participation.

• The same was found for women who are conservative in their sociocultural opinions.

• Finally, the study demonstrates that the presence of a partner reduces the probability of participation in the labor market.

• All in all, the negative association between cultural factors and female participation in the labor markets is greater than the effect related to the accumulation of human capital.

• The results can be understood as a short-term causal effect.

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Why social norms matter for policy making …?Because social norms matters for female labor outcomes statistically significant correlation between cultural variables and female participation.

• Education potentially plays a dual role

– By increasing educational attainment:• Direct and positive effect on participation • Increase education change social norms facilitates female participation

in the labor market.

– It is also important to review educational programs in order to promote unbiased gender attitudes from an early age.

• Thus, education can play an important role in reducing male chauvinistic attitudes – such as men's expectation that women should be confined to domestic chores – that restrain the participation of women in the labor market.


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