On the Two-Way relation between Marriage and Work for Women: Evidence from Egypt and Jordan

The present research studies the causal relationship between females’ transitions into marriage on the one hand and transitions into nonparticipation on the other hand. Relying on Egyptian and Jordanian panel microdata, we estimate a competing risk model to understand how can work delay marriage and how marriage affects the decision of working and the type of work to engage in. We use an instrumental variables approach to identify the causal relationship. The results of this study are expected to be of great importance to show which policies should be made available to improve women’s economic conditions in the labor market and to make sure that the private sector can be as attractive for female workers as the public sector. Ideally, we might suggest that – with time – a more equal sharing of caring responsibilities among men and women benefits female labor force participation, the economy and society as a whole.