Encouraging Female Graduates to Enter the Labor Force: Evidence from a Role Model Intervention in Pakistan
The authors conducted a randomised control trial with 2500 female undergraduate students in female only public colleges in Lahore
Abstract
In this study, we test if a low-cost, motivational nudge in the form of stories of female role-models can encourage female graduates from low-income households to increase labor force participation. We conducted a randomised control trial with 2500 female undergraduate students in female only public colleges in Lahore, Pakistan. We randomly selected half of the sample to watch videos of successful relatable female role models to encourage students to enter the labor force. The treated students had a significantly higher growth mindset immediately after watching the video. However, this did not translate into significantly higher job search effort or likelihood of working for the first 15 months after the intervention. Eighteen months after the intervention, at the onset of the first nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, treated students were 4.7 percentage points more likely to be working. This result was driven by respondents who belonged to households with lower income and parental education at baseline, possibly due to greater likelihood of a primary earner in their household losing job after the lockdown, and being more stressed about the loss of household income.
This research is part of the G2LM Gender, Growth and Labour Markets in Low-Income Countries programme.
Citation
Ahmed. H., Said, F., Mahmud, M., and Tirmazee, Z. S. (2023). “Encouraging Female Graduates to Enter the Labor Force. Evidence from a Role Model Intervention in Pakistan”. G2LM LIC Policy Brief No. 58.