Identifying How Gender Norms Impact Women’s Labor Participation and Effective Strategies to Boost Their Workforce Involvement in Low-and Middle-Income Countries
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58445/rars.1633Keywords:
Women's Labor Participation, Low-and Middle-Income Countries, Gender NormsAbstract
This paper explores how cultural contexts shape gender norms in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) and identifies strategies that effectively address these norms to improve women's workforce participation. It seeks to enhance gender equality by consolidating successful strategies that have expanded women’s employment opportunities in LMICs. While existing research often concentrates on individual countries or regions, this paper provides a comprehensive overview of strategies employed across various LMICs. The findings reveal that gender norms, especially familial pressures, play a crucial role in shaping women’s engagement with the labor force in LMICs. Cultural factors, including religious beliefs, social systems, and legal frameworks, impose significant expectations on women, often limiting their employment opportunities. Strategies effective at increasing women’s labor participation addressed deep-rooted sociocultural and structural barriers, while those not engaging with these underlying issues proved largely ineffective.
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