Labor migration and women's empowerment under gender norms: Evidence from China

This paper empirically analyzes the impact of gender norms on labor migration and women's empowerment using data from the Survey on Social Status of Women in China conducted in 2000 and 2010. The study finds that gender norms significantly promote male out-migration and are detrimental to women's empowerment. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that this effect is not significant in economically developed regions and highly educated households. The analysis also reveals that male labor migration shocks the influence of gender norms, facilitating women's empowerment, especially in family productive assets and family production decisions. Furthermore, the impact of gender norms at the household level also changes after considering women's pre-marital economic level and out-migration for employment.