Societal Aging and Attitudes towards Women in the Labor Market: Evidence from European Countries

This paper examines the relationship between societal aging and attitudes toward women in the labor market. We hypothesize that, up to a certain point, these attitudes are more favorable as societies grow ”older”. In these societies,
people may better recognize that an increase in female labor force participation can help mitigate the challenges that societal aging imposes on the welfare state. To test this hypothesis, we conduct a multilevel analysis of individuals
from 25 European OECD countries between 2004 and 2017, using the Old Age Dependency Ratio (OADR) as a proxy for societal aging and gender-related questions from the European Social Survey (ESS). Our findings reveal a
hump-shaped relationship between societal aging and attitudes towards women in the labor market. In the early stages of demographic change, particularly in countries with a rising OADR, positive attitudes can be attributed to the recognition that an aging population necessitates a larger working-age population, making women a logical resource for expansion, thus fostering more favorable norms. However, as societal aging progresses further, conservative views associated with older populations begin to dominate, leading to a deterioration in gender norms.