Diffusion of Gender Norms: Evidence from Stalin’s Ethnic Deportations

Abstract

We study horizontal between-group cultural transmission using Stalin’s ethnic deportations as a historical experiment. Over 2 million Soviet citizens, mostly Germans and Chechens, were forcibly relocated from the western to eastern parts of the USSR during WWII solely based on ethnicity. As a result, the native population of the deportation destinations was exogenously exposed to groups with drastically different gender norms and behavior. We combine historical and contemporary data to document that present-day gender equality in labor force participation, business leadership, and fertility as well as pro-gender-equality attitudes are higher among local native population of deportation destinations with a larger presence of Protestant compared to Muslim deportees. The effects are stronger for culturally closer groups and when adopting deportee norms is less costly. The results cannot be explained by selection, vertical cultural transmission, or deportee impact on the local economy. The evidence strongly suggests that gender norms diffused horizontally from deportees to the local population through imitation and learning.

Maternity Benefits and Marital Stability after Birth: Evidence from the Soviet Baltic Republics

“…19 17 Efforts of the socialist regimes to increase female employment had long-lasting effects on gender norms. Views regarding women's role in the labor market are more egalitarian in post-socialist countries than in west European countries (Boelmann et al 2020;Campa and Serafinelli 2019;Fuchs-Schündeln and Schündeln 2020;Lippmann et al 2020;Miho et al 2020). 18 See: Baban 1999; Brunnbauer and Taylor 2004;David 1982;Debroy 1989;Gal and Kligman 2000;Karu and Pall 2009;Klinger 1991;Mullerova 2017;Oláh and Fratczak 2004;and Wynnyczuk and Uzel 1999.…”