Education and Marriage Decisions of Japanese Women and the Role of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act

The Japanese Equal Employment Opportunity Act (EEOA) of 1985 aimed to reduce gender discrimination in the labor market, especially for career-oriented jobs. This paper investigates whether this act had an unanticipated effect on women’s marriage decisions. Using micro data from the Japanese Panel Su...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of human capital 2019-06, Vol.13 (2), p.260-292
Main Authors: Edwards, Linda N., Hasebe, Takuya, Sakai, Tadashi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affirmative action
Career opportunities
Consumers
Education
Employment
Labor market
Marriage
Sex discrimination
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Summary:The Japanese Equal Employment Opportunity Act (EEOA) of 1985 aimed to reduce gender discrimination in the labor market, especially for career-oriented jobs. This paper investigates whether this act had an unanticipated effect on women’s marriage decisions. Using micro data from the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers, we model women’s interrelated decisions on university education and whether to marry, focusing on whether women have married by age 32. Our results show a negative relationship between university education and marriage that is much greater for post-EEOA cohorts of women than for pre-EEOA cohorts, consistent with our hypothesis that the enhanced career opportunities associated with the EEOA stimulated women to delay or forgo marriage.
ISSN:1932-8575
1932-8664
DOI:10.1086/702924