Essays on Gender and Employment

This thesis aims to explore the dynamics of gender and employment in both Western and Eastern societies. It consists of three chapters. The first chapter examines the relationship between identity, differences in household bargaining power, and female labour supply using data from the UK. Identity is measured using attitudes towards education, work, and gender roles, and a composite index is generated from the attitudes questions using Cronbach’s Alpha technique. Bargaining power is measured based on the question about the last financial say in the household. The results indicate that identity for economic outcomes in different ways. An identity shaped by holding less traditional views (either in childhood or adulthood) is associated with a higher likelihood of being employed for women and fewer hours of household work. Additionally, having a partner who holds less traditional views towards gender norms is associated with a higher probability of being employed for women and fewer hours of household work. Results indicate that household bargaining power is not associated with market and household work. The second chapter investigates labour force participation of women and men following the Arab Spring, focusing on Tunisia and Egypt. To carry out the analysis, the chapter employs a synthetic control method and panel data from the World Bank for 36 countries over the period 1998 to 2018. The control group consists of countries with similar income levels to Tunisia and Egypt, representing low- and middle-income countries. The chapter’s findings suggest insufficient evidence to support the impact of the Arab Spring on employment in Tunisia and Egypt. This is attributed to the lack of comparability between the selected control group and Tunisia and Egypt, as Arab countries are excluded due to potential spillover effects. To enhance the reliability of the findings, robustness checks are conducted, including 1) reassigning the treatment to another year during the pre-treatment period, 2) adjusting model predictors, 3) selecting an alternative donor pool, and 4) employing interrupted time-series analysis as an alternative method. The results from all tests confirm that the control group, consisting of 36 lower-middle-income countries, is not a suitable control for Tunisia and Egypt. The last chapter examines the relationship between employment and financial inclusion across gender and income groups in Saudi Arabia. The analysis uses the World Bank’s Global Financial Index Survey (Findex) of 2021. Using a probit model, the association between employment and the probability of being financially included is estimated. To measure financial inclusion, three indicators are examined: i) access indicators, ii) usage indicators and iii) quality. Account ownership is used to measure access to financial inclusion, saving and borrowing are used to measure usage of financial inclusion, and lastly, online payment is used to measure quality. The findings indicate that employment is positively associated with financial inclusion for all three indicators. Regarding access to financial inclusion, similar results are found for both women and men and across all income groups: low, middle, and upper-income groups; employment increases the likelihood of having an account in a financial institution. The results vary between genders and across income groups when assessing usage and quality of financial inclusion. Regarding quality, women and men in the low-income group are more likely to make payments online. Regarding the usage of financial inclusion, findings show that employment is positively associated with the probability of saving or borrowing from a financial institution for women in the lower and middle-income groups and employed men in the low-income group. Additionally, the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition is employed to uncover the factors driving disparities in financial inclusion, and results confirm that differences in gender, employment, and income contribute to gender disparities in financial inclusion.