Qatari women are well-educated, the public sector offers many well-paid jobs, and childcare is relatively cheap. Earnings would certainly help their families financially, since Qataris care about relative standing. So why does female labour force participation remain below the world average (at 37%)?
Lisa Blaydes, Justin Gengler, and Noora Ahmed Lari recently ran an experiment, asking Qataris about hypothetical jobs for their sister or daughter. They varied the sector, salary and whether it was a mixed/ female-only workplace, then asked if the respondent would support their female relative taking the job.
This is a brilliant question, they’re not just asking about female employment in abstract, but rather their own kin.
Their results shed light on what I call “The Honour-Income Trade-Off”.