Intergenerational Gender Norm Socialization
RCTClinical Trial
Traditional gender norms are reinforced across generations when children observe rigid domestic divisions of labor at home. Without exposure to working female role models within the household, children perpetuate traditional gender role expectations into adulthood.
Picture this
Think of a child watching how chores are split at home as reading a blueprint for how the world should work. When a mother starts earning income and domestic responsibilities shift, the child updates that blueprint to view gender roles as flexible and shared rather than fixed.
What the evidence says
Children over 12 whose mothers were assigned any job became 0.1 standard deviations less traditional in their gender views, whereas attitudes of younger children showed no measurable change.
- Who was studied
- Children over 12 years old across 1,670 households in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
- How
- Longitudinal RCT assessing children's gender attitude indices 10 weeks after maternal job assignment.
What to do
Evaluate the multi-generational impact of female economic empowerment programs by measuring attitudinal shifts in adolescent household dependents.
From the source
"Children over 12 years old whose mothers were assigned any job became 0.1 standard deviations less traditional whereas the attitudes of younger children did not change."
Improving Female Labor Force Participation through Flexible, Internet-mediated Gig Work in India