Authors

Rana Hardy

Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

2011

Abstract

This study explores the extremely biased division of labor within Egyptian households. The effects of marriage on women’s market and domestic labor supplies are important aspects of this study conducted by the Population Council for its working paper series on gender and work in the Mideast-North Africa region. New explanations for married women’s low participation rates are proposed. A matching model is estimated to determine how selection into marriage alters the time allocation of women. The empirical results show that marriage significantly affects both types of work with married women spending about eight hours less on market work weekly relative to their single counterparts. More effective policies in Egypt would allow not only for the increase of women’s participation in paid work, but also a more equitable division of labor within families.

DOI

10.31899/pgy2.1076

Language

English

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