Assigning care: Gender norms and economic outcomes

In societies that link femaleness to familial altruism, women tend to be di sproportionately represented in caring occupations. This reinforces occupat ional segregation, sex-based pay differentials and the very norms that dict ate appropriate behaviour for women and men. The authors' research on the i nteraction between marriage markets and labour markets shows another reason why such gender norms are resistant to change. Their analysis of the relat ionship between caring labour, social norms and economic outcomes leads the m to advocate not only reassigning responsibilities for care, but specific measures to protect caring work, including strict quality standards on the provision of marketed care.