Intra-Household (Mis-)Beliefs and Women’s Work Decisions in Pakistan

Last registered on April 14, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Intra-Household (Mis-)Beliefs and Women’s Work Decisions in Pakistan
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0018327
Initial registration date
April 13, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
April 14, 2026, 9:54 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Danila Serra
Affiliation
Texas A&M University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Farzana Afridi
PI Affiliation
Indian Statistical Institute Delhi
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PI Name
Hamna Ahmad
PI Affiliation
Lahore School of Economics
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PI Name
Raymond Robertson
PI Affiliation
Texas A&M University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-04-01
End date
2027-06-30
Keywords
Behavior, Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Female labor force participation in Pakistan is among the lowest in the world. Many working women are engaged in home-based, informal employment in the garment sector, where they earn low wages and lack protections against exploitation by contractors. We study the role of intra-household misaligned beliefs in shaping women’s labor supply decisions, focusing on whether incorrect perceptions about husbands’ support for outside employment act as a barrier to formal work. In April 2025 (our baseline), we surveyed 301 home-based working women in Lahore along with their spouses, to elicit wives’ and husbands’ preferences for home-based versus outside-home work, as well as their beliefs of their spouse’s preferences. The survey provided evidence of misalignment in intra-household preferences and beliefs. We revisit the household and randomize them to receive information about surveyed husbands’ support for women working outside the home. We evaluate the impact of this information on women’s participation in a community workshop that provides information about local job opportunities, and on subsequent employment outcomes.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Afridi, Farzana et al. 2026. "Intra-Household (Mis-)Beliefs and Women’s Work Decisions in Pakistan ." AEA RCT Registry. April 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.18327-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Approximately two-thirds of the couples surveyed at baseline are randomly assigned to receive an information intervention during household revisits. The intervention provides information on the aggregated responses of all surveyed husbands to a baseline choice experiment, in which husbands chose between a home-based job (Job A) and employment in a garment factory (Job B) for their wives at varying wage levels for Job B (moderate, high, or very high). In addition, conditional on the husband’s prior consent, women receive individualized information about their own husband’s choice between Job A and Job B in the baseline choice experiment. The spouses assigned to control are presented placebo information on the risk of dengue. We assess the impact of the information intervention on women’s participation in a community workshop providing information about job opportunities outside the home, and on subsequent labor market outcomes.

Intervention Start Date
2026-04-13
Intervention End Date
2026-05-17

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The primary outcomes of interest are: (i) stated interest in participating in a community workshop providing information on job opportunities outside the home; (ii) actual participation in the workshop; (iii) registration on an online job-matching platform; iv) job outcomes.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Interest will be recorded during the endline household visit. Participation in the workshop will be recorded on the day of the event. Registration data will be obtained from an online matching platform that will be presented to the women during the workshop. Job outcomes will be recorded during a second household visit, 4 to 8 weeks post intervention.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
The secondary outcomes are generated by our second household visits (4 to 6 months post intervention). They are measures of: 1) Women’s aspirations to work outside the home; 2) intra-household communication about wife’s work outside the home; 3) men’s and women’s attitudes and perceived norms about “women's freedom to work outside the home”; 4) Intra-household bargaining; 5) women’s mobility.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
In April 2025, we surveyed 301 married women working for home for the garment sector in Lahore, Pakistan. We employed a randomized choice experiment that allowed participants to choose between hypothetical home-based and factory-based jobs (Job A and Job B, respectively) for the wife, keeping the characteristics of the home-based work constant (similar to the women’s current job), while varying, across subjects, wages of the factory-based job. We elicited own preferences and incentivized beliefs of the spouse’s preferences. We found evidence of misalignment in intra-household preferences and beliefs. In this study, we return to these households and randomize two thirds of them to receive information about the choice experiment’s aggregated answers of all surveyed husbands. In addition, conditional on husband’s consent, we present treated women with the their own’s husband answer in the baseline choice experiment. Control couples receive placebo information on the risk of dengue.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization automated through Survey CTO. All households who consent to participate in the survey are automatically randomized into either the control (1/3) or the treatment group (2/3).
Randomization Unit
Household level. This guarantees that husbands and wives are assigned to the same treatment group.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
301, assuming no attrition from baseline.
Sample size: planned number of observations
301 women and 301 men, married to each other.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Approximately 2/3 households assigned to treatment and 1/3 to control.
- Treatment: Assuming no attrition, 200 women and 200 men (their husbands).
- Control: Assuming no attrition, 101 women and 101 men (their husbands).
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Research Ethics Review Committee ot the Lahore School of Economics
IRB Approval Date
2023-06-13
IRB Approval Number
RERC-062024-01
Analysis Plan