Women’s work outside the home (WWOH) rate in Pakistan is among the lowest in the world. This is partly due to employer’s having incorrect information and beliefs about women’s ability to carry out work (a demand-side information constraint) and social stigma preventing women and their families from seeking jobs related information (a supply-side information constraint). This project aims to examine the impact of reducing demand- and supply-side constraints through a cluster-randomized controlled trial (RCT) with the goal of increasing female labor force participation (FLFP) in Pakistan.
Our demand-side intervention involves informing hiring managers of randomly selected male-intensive firms in the apparel sector of the success stories of female-intensive firms in the same sector. We will also incentivize hiring managers in the treatment group to visit role-model firms. Our supply side interventions consist of providing information on suitable jobs and working environments in factories and inviting randomly selected women and their male family members to visit firms to witness first-hand what working in these factories may look like and the amenities provided for female workers. In the third treatment arm, we aim to provide both interventions to capture their potential synergistic effect. We then assess whether role-model interventions and reductions in search costs for firms and workers are effective ways to increase FLFP rates. As downstream outcomes, we will also measure the effect on firm performance of firms that hire more women.
The results from the demand-side treatments will provide causal evidence for whether providing information and role-model visits can enable managers to update their beliefs about women’s ability to work in factories and hire more women. Supply side treatments will provide causal evidence on whether providing information and factory visits can increase women’s job search efforts. In tandem, our results will also provide evidence for whether demand-or supply side constraints act as bigger constraints to WWOH in Pakistan.
