Abstract
Female labor force participation rates throughout South Asia are low, declining, and are likely significantly slowing economic growth in the region. The underlying causes of low female labor force participation are not yet well understood. It is widely believed that restrictive gender norms play a strong role along with other economic forces (Jayachandran, 2019), but the channels through which norms may influence outcomes are not yet well articulated. Our study seeks to understand whether temporary wage subsidies can increase female employment in Pakistani firms, which are heavily dominated by male employees. We aim to look at the impacts of the wage-subsidy on hiring and retention of female employees, attitude changes among employers, and heterogeneity of effects along baseline characteristics. Using the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak mechanism, the experiment will elicit the true subsidy required for an employer to hire a woman. Our proposed research would fill a significant gap in the current experimental and quasi-experimental literature on norms and female employment by focusing on the demand side of the labor market and interventions that may make employers shift attitudes towards employing women.