How Cities Erode Gender Inequality: A New Theory and Evidence from Cambodia

Abstract

Support for gender equality has increased globally, and studies of this trend usually examine individual- and/or country-level factors. However, this overlooks subnational variation. City-dwellers are more likely to support gender equality in education, employment, leadership, and leisure. This article investigates the causes of rural–urban differences through comparative, qualitative research in Cambodia. The emergence of rural garment factories presents a quasi-natural experiment to test the theory that female employment enhances support for gender equality. Rural female employment may diminish rural–urban differences in gender inequalities or there may be other important aspects of city-living (beyond female employment) that amplify support for gender equality. Drawing on Cambodian fieldwork, I suggest that cities raise the opportunity costs of the male breadwinner model, increase exposure to women in socially valued roles, and provide more associational avenues to collectively contest established practices. Interests, exposure, and association reinforce a snowballing process of social change. By investigating the causes of subnational variation, I advance a new theory of growing support for gender equality.

Pride and Protest: Emotional response in the aftermath of the Chilean social outburst

“…The literature has also suggested that metropolitan areas are at the vanguard of social change (e.g. Glaeser, 2012;Evans, 2019). However, we found no significant differences when comparing respondents' areas of residence.…”

Determinants of Exclusive Breastfeeding of Infants under Six Months among Cambodian Mothers

“…A possible explanation is that rural mothers may have had less influence and exposure to breastmilk substituents via media marketing than urban mothers who may have mistakenly derived the value of breastmilk substitutes from its modernity [18,19]. In addition, because of greater job opportunities in urban regions and that Cambodians who value working tend to move from rural to urban areas to live, urban mothers tend to prioritize nondomestic work more than rural mothers [25,26]. Urban mothers are therefore likely to spend less time domestically than their rural counterparts, leaving them less opportunity to exclusively breastfeed their infants.…”

“…The independent variables included in the analysis were classified into sociodemographic characteristics and maternal healthcare access and behavioral factors. The sociodemographic variables were residence (urban, rural), maternal age (<18, [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49], maternal education (no schooling, primary school, secondary school/higher), current marital status (currently married/in union, formerly married), employment status (no job/not working, agricultural/self-employed, professional/technical/sales, others), wealth index (low, middle, high), religion (Buddhist, others), infant birth weight (<2500 grams, ≥2500 grams), infant birth order, sex of infant, infant age, and singleton child status. Wealth index was categorized into low, middle, and high, based on the CDHS 2014 classification of wealth quintiles.…”

Gendered Places: The Dimensions of Local Gender Norms across the United States

“…However, case study research has shown evidence for the presence of more localized gender norms. Many studies have identified differences in norms between rural and urban areas (Evans 2019), while others have documented how local gender norms shape individuals' attitudes and patterns of behavior (Brown-Saracino 2017;Correll et al 2017;Guenther 2010). Taken together, research on the consequences of gender norms has focused on local dynamics, while studies on spatial variation have primarily examined countrylevel attributes.…”

“…Yet, a growing number of studies have identified the presence of more localized gender norms. Research in Africa (Charles 2020; Evans 2018) and Southeast Asia (Evans 2019) has identified differences between rural areas with more traditional gender norms and urban centers where women’s educational advancement and employment are widely supported. Many studies have compared the gender norms between East and West Germany (Dirksmeier 2015; Guenther 2010).…”