The Extra Burden of Moslem Wives: Clues from Israeli Women's Labor Supply

Abstract

This paper examines differences in the labor supply of women of different religions in Israel. We estimate religious differentials in the effect of husband's income, number of children, education, and age on married women's labor supply. It is suggested that labor supply patterns of wives from different religious backgrounds may reveal differences in the institutions which different religious groups have established to regulate marriage and divorce. Our results suggest that Christian marital institutions are closer to Jewish marital institutions than they are to Moslem marital institutions. Moslem women appear to be less likely to translate their resources into a higher value of time in marriage than either Christian women or Jewish women. Educated Moslem women seem to have fewer constraints on their marriages than their uneducated counterparts.

JEL Classification: J12, J15, J21, J22