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The gendered effects of labour market experiences on marriage timing in Egypt

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  • Rania Salem

    (University of Toronto)

Abstract

Background: In Egypt, the ‘social problem’ of delayed marriage is typically attributed to the difficult labour market conditions and high marriage costs faced by young people, particularly men. However, emerging evidence indicates that Egyptian women’s employment experiences may also influence marriage timing. Objective: This paper investigates gender differences in the determinants of marriage timing, including employment history, job characteristics, education, and urban residence. It tests a number of hypotheses based on existing claims in the literature on marriage timing. Methods: Data from two waves of the nationally representative Egypt Labour Market Panel Survey are used to carry out proportional hazard analyses. Characteristics of never-married respondents at wave one in 1998 are used to predict the risk of marriage by wave two in 2006. Results: The results indicate that, to some extent, never-married men who have favourable labour market experiences marry earlier. The same experiences bear no association with women’s marriage timing. For men, being employed and having a public sector job are important economic prerequisites for marriage. Conclusions: Evidence indicates that Egyptian men with favourable labour market experiences attract a spouse and establish an independent household faster than others. The male breadwinner ideal is therefore a powerful force in dictating who marries when in Egypt today. I also contend that previous studies may have overstated the delaying effects of education and urban residence on marriage, particularly for women. Finally, I offer four contextual factors that must be taken into account when predicting whether existing theories will hold in a given setting.

Suggested Citation

  • Rania Salem, 2016. "The gendered effects of labour market experiences on marriage timing in Egypt," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(11), pages 283-314.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:35:y:2016:i:11
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2016.35.11
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Caroline Krafft & Ragui Assaad, 2020. "Employment’s Role in Enabling and Constraining Marriage in the Middle East and North Africa," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(6), pages 2297-2325, December.
    2. Krafft Caroline & Assaad Ragui & Rahman Khandker Wahedur, 2021. "Introducing the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey 2018," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-40, January.
    3. Jenny Liu & Maia Sieverding & Sepideh Modrek, 2017. "The mental health of youth and young adults during the transition to adulthood in Egypt," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(56), pages 1721-1758.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender; family; marriage; youth; labor; employment; work;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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