Frailty, Thy Name is Still Woman? The Impact of Local Labor Demand Shocks on the Prevalence of Traditional Attitudes in the US

The substantial increase in women’s participation in the US economy marks a major shift in labor markets over the past century. Building on this context, this article explores the impact of labor market changes, especially those resulting from shifts in labor demand, on US gender norms between 1977 and 2016. Using Bartik shocks to measure labor demand differences across US states, the study examines data from the General Social Survey, focusing on attitudes toward women’s roles in work, politics, and family. State-level stacked first-differenced models show that a standard deviation increase in changes in Bartik shocks may lead to a 0.2010 standard deviation decrease in changes in the share of respondents holding traditional attitudes about women’s roles outside the home. This effect is not found in other aspects of gender-role attitudes, which highlights the complexity of gender norms and the importance of analyzing distinct dimensions separately.HIGHLIGHTSLabor demand shifts may influence US gender attitudes, 1977–2016.Effects of labor demand may vary across dimensions of women’s roles.Stronger labor markets alone may not overturn traditional attitudes.