Policy Research Working Paper10694Gender Role Attitudes, Perceived Norms, and the “Double Burden’’ in MoroccoCarolyn BarnettMiddle East and North Africa RegionOffice of the Chief EconomistFebruary 2024 Public Disclosure AuthorizedPublic Disclosure AuthorizedPublic Disclosure AuthorizedPublic Disclosure AuthorizedProduced by the Research Support TeamAbstractThe Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.Policy Research Working Paper 10694To what extent do attitudes and perceived norms around household roles hinder the emergence of more gender-equal distributions of labor in Morocco? Moroccan women undertake a disproportionate share of unpaid household and care labor and participate in the labor force at low rates. Yet everyday practices are shifting, and normative expectations may be as well. From an online survey of pre-dominantly urban, employed Moroccans, this paper finds that respondents aspire for men to be equal contributors in care tasks. Yet, unpaid labor burdens remain highly unequal, respondents disfavor men taking primary responsibility for cooking or cleaning, and women’s share of household labor correlates with perceptions of what men prefer more than with individuals’ actual preferences. Results from a conjoint survey experiment measuring preferences around employment and the household division of labor con-firm respondents’ interest in more egalitarian relations in principle, but also suggest that strong preferences for a male breadwinner family model will continue to drive an unequal distribution of labor at home.This paper is a product of the Office of the Chief Economist, Middle East and North Africa Region. It is part of a larger effort by the World Bank to provide open access to its research and make a contribution to development policy discussions around the world. Policy Research Working Papers are also posted on the Web at http://www.worldbank.org/prwp. The authors may be contacted at carolynbarnett@arizona.edu. Gender Role Attitudes, Perceived Norms, and the“Double Burden” in MoroccoCarolyn Barnett∗Keywords: Household labor, care work, mental labor, gender norms, perceived norms,female labor force participationJEL codes: J16, J21, J22, J71∗Assistant Professor, University of Arizona. This work was supported ...
