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IZA Discussion Paper No. 15453
July 2022
Female Labor Market Opportunities and Gender Gaps in Aspirations

published in: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2023, 211, 165-187

Aspirations and plans for the future can influence investments made today. Gender gaps in these views can perpetuate gender gaps in outcomes. In this paper, we explore how gender gaps in aspirations and expectations are affected by the local labor market. Using a national longitudinal survey from Japan, we begin by documenting large gender differences in adolescents’ own thoughts about their future educational attainment, occupation, marriage, and fertility, as well as parental aspirations for their child’s future. We then show that these gender gaps – specifically, boys planning for higher educational attainment as well as later marriage and fertility – are significantly smaller in municipalities with higher female labor force participation. Consistent with this, we also find that female labor force participation increases parental investments in girls relative to boys. We detect similar patterns when examining realized outcomes at age 19.

Kommunikation
Mark Fallak
mark.fallak@liser.lu
+352 585-855-526
World of Labour
Olga Nottmeyer
olga.nottmeyer@liser.lu
+352 585-855-501
Netzwerkkoordination
Christina Gathmann
christina.gathmann@liser.lu

Das IZA@LISER-Netzwerk ist eine weltweite Gemeinschaft für exzellente Forschung in der Arbeitsmarktökonomie und angrenzenden Fachgebieten. Nach dem Wechsel von Bonn wird das Netzwerk nun am Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) koordiniert.

Über das IZA@LISER Network
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