TY - JOUR

T1 - On the malleability of gender attitudes

T2 - Evidence from implicit and explicit measures in Tunisia

AU - Nillesen, Eleonora

AU - Grimm, Michael

AU - Goedhuys, Micheline

AU - Reitmann, Ann Kristin

AU - Meysonnat, Aline

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by funds from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland (TAQEEM Initiative). The ILO had no involvement in any stage of this study. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Authors

PY - 2021/2

Y1 - 2021/2

N2 - In many regions of the world, significant parts of society are persistently unsupportive of female empowerment. The role of women is often still defined by social norms, rather than legal rights, hampering economic development. Women's empowerment has therefore become a top priority on development agendas, also testified by an increasing number of policy interventions aiming to promote gender equality. To monitor progress in this area we need reliable data on gender attitudes. However, standard self-reported measures of gender attitudes are prone to a wide range of measurement errors and social desirability bias. In this paper we address this problem and use a new field application of the implicit association test (IAT), next to a set of standard survey questions, to measure implicit gender attitudes in Tunisia. Implicit attitudes are considered less susceptible to measurement bias and may serve to more accurately assess gender attitudes. Further, we examine the malleability of implicit gender attitudes using a randomized video intervention illustrating real-life gender reforms in Tunisia, and natural variation in interviewer characteristics with respect to gender and perceived religiosity. Our study finds that the video has no average impact on implicit (IAT-based) attitudes, which is consistent with the idea that in a highly polarized society like Tunisia such an intervention only affects specific groups in a society. We indeed find that the video mitigates the implicit gender bias only among the specific subpopulation of conservative women. We also confirm the presence of interviewer effects. Yet, impacts are more pronounced for explicit attitudes, which may suggest social desirability at work in surveys. We believe that our study may inform policymakers on the potential power of light interventions and helps improve measurements related to gender norms and attitudes.

AB - In many regions of the world, significant parts of society are persistently unsupportive of female empowerment. The role of women is often still defined by social norms, rather than legal rights, hampering economic development. Women's empowerment has therefore become a top priority on development agendas, also testified by an increasing number of policy interventions aiming to promote gender equality. To monitor progress in this area we need reliable data on gender attitudes. However, standard self-reported measures of gender attitudes are prone to a wide range of measurement errors and social desirability bias. In this paper we address this problem and use a new field application of the implicit association test (IAT), next to a set of standard survey questions, to measure implicit gender attitudes in Tunisia. Implicit attitudes are considered less susceptible to measurement bias and may serve to more accurately assess gender attitudes. Further, we examine the malleability of implicit gender attitudes using a randomized video intervention illustrating real-life gender reforms in Tunisia, and natural variation in interviewer characteristics with respect to gender and perceived religiosity. Our study finds that the video has no average impact on implicit (IAT-based) attitudes, which is consistent with the idea that in a highly polarized society like Tunisia such an intervention only affects specific groups in a society. We indeed find that the video mitigates the implicit gender bias only among the specific subpopulation of conservative women. We also confirm the presence of interviewer effects. Yet, impacts are more pronounced for explicit attitudes, which may suggest social desirability at work in surveys. We believe that our study may inform policymakers on the potential power of light interventions and helps improve measurements related to gender norms and attitudes.

KW - Implicit Association Test

KW - Interviewer effects

KW - Middle East and North Africa

KW - Women's empowerment

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096180397&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105263

DO - 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105263

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85096180397

VL - 138

JO - World Development

JF - World Development

SN - 0305-750X

M1 - 105263

ER -