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IZA Discussion Paper No. 17871
April 2025
Breaking Barriers via Refugees: Cultural Transmission and Women’s Economic Empowerment

This paper examines the horizontal transmission of gender norms using the forced migration of ethnic Turks from Bulgaria to Türkiye after the fall of the Iron Curtain as a natural experiment. Despite shared linguistic and religious ties, migrant women held more progressive gender norms and stronger labor market attachment than native Turkish women. Their arrival increased labor market participation among native women, particularly in male-dominated manufacturing, while men’s outcomes remained unchanged. Additionally, native women’s fertility declined, and middle school attainment rose, aligning with refugee women’s patterns. Exposure to progressive norms reshaped native women's roles in work and family life.

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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