This study examined the implications of the male breadwinner norm (MBN) for couples’ employment decisions in Bangladesh. The MBN, which dictates that men should be the primary earners, often discouraged situations where wives outearned their husbands. The research tested whether men preferred to earn more or hold more prestigious jobs than their spouses- and whether women preferred the opposite – even at the cost of household efficiency. It also explored how household task divisions and concerns about women’s domestic roles reinforced the norm, and whether correcting second-order beliefs about the MBN influenced job choices. Observational evidence had shown that women who outearned their husbands often faced negative consequences, including increased household work or higher divorce rates, with strong support for the MBN found in Bangladesh and similar contexts. To address limitations of prior observational studies, the research used an experimental approach to separate the effects of income and job prestige, study couples beyond the equal-earnings margin, and identify causal impacts. The project was conducted by Professor Dupas, Adrian Blattner, Muriel Niederle, and Shakil Ayan of Stanford University, and Nina Buchmann of Yale University, in collaboration with Development Research Initiative (dRi), Bangladesh.
Serial No: 285
Theme: Gender Rights and Violence
Research Method: Qualitative
Partner: The Trustees of Princeton University
Starting Year: 2025
Study Area: Bogura
