Living Smart

IV PUBLIC POLICY & SOCIAL SCIENCE 124 125 Gender equality pays dividends all round Prof. Jane ZHANG Former Associate Professor, Division of Social Science A s we all know, International Women’ s Day aims to raise awareness about the struggles of women the world over and to honor their achievements. While we are still fighting hard for equal pay for women and more female representation at executive levels, we often overlook the role that gender norms – standards and expectations to which women and men generally conform – play in obstructing women from realizing their potential. Instilled and internalized early in life, gender norms can establish expectations that limit what women can or should do. Experimental research has shown that women are less willing to compete than men, leading young women to choose less lucrative areas of specialization in school. Women are also less likely to negotiate their job offers. However, studies also demonstrate that when women are asked to negotiate on behalf of someone else and to compete for the benefit of their children, the gender gap disappears. Women tend to compete less not because they are incapable, but because being competitive does not conform with gender norms. These perceived norms are hurting women in marriages as well. In the United States, women who earn more than their husbands have lower marital satisfaction, and do more housework than women who earn less than their husbands, possibly as compensation for violating gender roles that promote the husband as breadwinner and the wife as homemaker. History tells us that gender norms can change when the labor market becomes more gender equal. As more women started to outearn their husbands, fewer people (both men and women!) supported the statement that “it’ s generally better for a marriage if the husband earns more