On the origins of gender roles: Women and the plough

The Quarterly Journal of Economics • Vol/Iss. 128(2) • Oxford University Press • • Published In • Pages: 469-530 •
By Alesina, Alberto, Giuliano, Paola, Nunn, Nathan

Abstract

There is considerable variation both within and across societies in attitudes towards female employment outside of the household. In some societies, the dominant belief is that women should have equal opportunity to work outside the home, while in others women are strongly discouraged from working outside of the domestic sphere. Here the authors use pre-industrial ethnographic data and contemporary observations of gender inequality to test the hypothesis that cultural attitudes regarding the appropriateness of women working outside of the household are rooted in the ancestral adoption of plough cultivation. Contemporary measures of gender inequality assess variation across countries, ethnic groups, and individuals.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
Standard Cross Cultural Sample (SCCS)Other researchers
Ethnographic Atlas (EA)Other researchers
Ethnologue: Languages of the World
Geo-Referencing of Ethnic Groups (GREG)

Hypotheses (20)

HypothesisSupported
Traditional plough agriculture will be associated with lower overall female participation in agriculture (481).Supported
Traditional plough agriculture will be associated with lower female participation in land clearance (481).Supported
Traditional plough agriculture will be associated with lower female participation in soil preparation (481).Supported
Traditional plough agriculture will be associated with lower female participation in crop planting (481).Supported
Traditional plough agriculture will be associated with lower female participation in crop harvesting (481).Supported
Traditional plough agriculture will be associated with lower female participation in caring for small animals (483).Not Supported
Traditional plough agriculture will be associated with lower female participation in caring for large animals (483).Not Supported
Traditional plough agriculture will be associated with lower female participation in milking domesticated animals (483).Not Supported
Traditional plough agriculture will be associated with lower female participation in cooking (483).Not Supported
Traditional plough agriculture will be associated with lower female participation in fuel gathering (483).Not Supported
Traditional plough agriculture will be associated with lower female participation in water fetching (483).Not Supported
Traditional plough agriculture will be associated with lower female participation in burden carying (483).Supported
Traditional plough agriculture will be associated with lower female participation in handicrafts (483).Not Supported
Traditional plough agriculture will be associated with lower female participation in trading (483).Not Supported
Countries with a history of plough use will have lower female labor force participation in the year 2000 (490).Supported
Countries with a history of plough use will have lower female labor firm ownership in the year(s) 2003-2010 (490).Supported
Countries with a history of plough use will have lower female participation in politics the year 2000 (490).Supported
There will be a positive relationship between traditional plough use and contemporary attitudes reflecting gender inequality (503).Supported
Adoption of the plough is positively correlated with an environment suitable for the cultivation of plough-positive cereals, but not with plough-negative cereals (516).Supported
Historically advanced societies were more likely to adopt the plough (519).Supported
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: erik.ringen