Social norms and female labor participation in Brazil

• Date: 01 November 2018
• Author: André Albuquerque Sant'Anna,Karen Codazzi,Valéria Pero
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12515
• Published date: 01 November 2018

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

Social norms and female labor participation in

Brazil

Karen Codazzi

1,2

|

Val

eria Pero

1

|

Andr

e Albuquerque Sant’Anna

1

1

Economics Institute of the Federal

University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2

Brazilian Development Bank, Bras



ılia,

Brazil

Correspondence

Karen Codazzi, Economics Institute of the

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Av.

Pasteur, 250, Urca, Rio de Janeiro, RJ

22290-902, Brazil.

Email: karen_codazi@hotmail.com

Funding information

United Nations University World Institute

for Development Economics Research

(UNU-WIDER)

Abstract

Over the last half-century, the role of women in society

has changed substantially. However, the gender income

gap and the difference in labor force participation persist.

Other authors introduced the concept of identity from

sociology and social psychology at the economic analysis

and, based on this, we search less traditional factors for

understanding this persistence. Extending analysis of

others, we analyze the impact of gender social norms,

focusing on the prescription that “a man should earn more

than his wife”on social and economic results. Based on

the Censuses for 1991, 2000, and 2010 we observed that

for only 7 percent of married couples does the wife earn

more than her husband. We found evidence that the wives

with greater probability of earning more than their hus-

bands are less likely to participate in the labor force. Once

she does participate in the labor force, she has a higher

probability of earning less than her potential income,

working fewer hours, and having an informal job.

1

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INTRODUCTION

The decades of the late 1990s and early 2000s have witnessed great changes in the roles of women

in society. From the economical viewpoint, women achieved important gains. The major transforma-

tion was the sharp increase in female participation in the labor market. However, important dispari-

ties between men and women remain. Blau and Kahn (2017) show that the gap between male and

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©2018 UNU-WIDER. Review of Development Economics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

DOI: 10.1111/rode.12515

Rev Dev Econ. 2018;22:1513–1535. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/rode

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female labor force participation in the United States has stagnated since the 2000s, as well as the

gender wage gap, even controlling for human capital and a handful of other covariates. This stagna-

tion has been subject of recent research. Some authors point to the importance of flexible job sched-

ules as the main basis of the difference. Goldin (2014), for instance, develops an explanation based

on the fact that firms reward disproportionally individuals who work long and particular hours. Ber-

trand, Kamenica, and Pan (2015) suggest a significant role for gender identity and social norms.

In Brazil, the same phenomena can also be observed: female participation in the labor market has

grown 8.5 percentage points (p.p.) from 1992 to 2012, while this figure among men has fallen 5.9

p.p. over the same period (Barbosa, 2014). Further, there has been a reduction in the gender wage

gap: in 1995 women earned, on average, only 53 percent of men’s income. As of 2014, this gap has

reduced: women’s average income was 70 percent of that of men (Pinheiro, Lima Junior, Fontoura,

& De Silva, 2016).

1

A major reason for this reduction in the wage gap is the sharp decline in the edu-

cational gap. As a matter of fact, as happened in some developed countries, the educational gap in

Brazil has reversed—on average, women now have more years of education than do men (Beltr~

ao &

Alves, 2013). In addition, some policies with the aim of eliminating gender discrimination in the

labor market have contributed to the narrowing of the wage gap (Barros & Mendoncßa, 1996).

In spite of this recent progress, there remains a substantial difference in earnings between men

and women, as well as a difference in labor force participation. In Brazil, Matos and Machado

(2006) showed an increase in “wage discrimination”over the last decade.

2

However, the part

explained by observable variables such as education and experience has become more favorable

for women. Thus, even with the tendency to increase the residual portion, the wage differential fell

during the analyzed period. Hoffmann, Ometto and Alves (1999) analyze the impact of occupa-

tional segregation on the wage differential, comparing the gender wage gap between and within

occupations, showing that both are relevant.

This paper aims to understand the role of social norms to the women’s decisions, in particular

wives, regarding labor market participation and wage gap. Based on the idea of identity in eco-

nomics (Akerlof & Kranton, 2000), we follow the analysis advanced by Bertrand et al. (2015),

which seeks to measure the effect of gender social norms on women’s labor market choices. We

apply the same framework to Brazil and introduce a discussion on informal labor markets, which

is an institutional feature more common in developing countries. An indication that social norms

play an important role in the decisions within the household is that although the working hours’

gender gap is reducing over time in Brazil, the differences in weekly hours devoted to household

chores between men and women are huge: 10 hours for men and 20 for women. This difference is

even higher for couples. This suggests the existence of a social norm that women should be more

responsible for care of the household, children, elderly, and other dependent individuals (Huber,

Stephens, Bradley, Moller, & Nielsen, 2009).

Bertrand et al. (2015) suggest that social norms have an important impact in marriage formation

and wives’labor market decisions. Men and women have long been faced with different prescrip-

tions, such as “men should be the breadwinners while women should take care of the household”,

or its more modern version that states that “a man should earn more than his wife”. Considering

data from the World Value Survey, it can be observed that 16.8 percent of Brazilians agree with

the statement that “when jobs are scarce men should have more right to a job than women”,

3

and

33.5 percent of Brazilians agree with the affirmation “if a woman earns more than her husband, it

is almost certain to cause problems”.

4

It seems that it makes sense to assume, as proposed by Ber-

trand et al. (2015), that there is a social norm related to gender identity that states that “a woman

should not earn more than her husband”. Based on this idea and on Akerlof and Kranton’s (2000)

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CODAZZI ET AL.