We document that the gender gap in non-agricultural work in developing countries exists primarily among rural married workers, not singles. Married women spend more time on home production, making them less likely to pursue non-agricultural employment. We extend a general equilibrium Roy model to incorporate the joint labour supply decisions of rural married couples, accounting for gender-specific labour distortions and entry barriers to non-agriculture. Calibrating the model to China, we find that the gender gap in non-agricultural employment can be largely explained by gender differences in home production and labour market distortions. Furthermore, within-household specialisation among married couples greatly amplifies the effects of gender-specific labour distortions, and changes in entry barriers to non-agriculture widened the gender gap in China between 2000 and 2010. Enhancing public services such as childcare facilities can effectively induce more married women to work in non-agriculture. Extrapolating our model globally, it explains a quarter of the variation in the gender gap across countries.
STEG Working Paper Series
• Research Theme 2: Labour, Home Production, and Structural Transformation at the Level of the Household,
Cross-Cutting Issue 1: Gender
Home Production and Gender Gap in Structural Change
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