Female teachers’ relative wage level in the 1930s and its long-term effects on current views on female labor participation: A case study from Japan

This study analyzes how the historical work status of women contributed to subjective views about female labor participation in Japan. We matched historical and individual-level data. Based on a sample size of almost 10,000, we examined the long-term effect of female teachers’ wage level relative to that of male teachers in the 1930s. We find higher female teachers’ wages in the 1930s leads to positive views about women’s labor participation in 2016; this effect is only observed in the male sample (and not the female sample). By contrast, female teachers’ wages in 2013 did not influence the views in 2016.