Description:
This paper estimates the effects of reduced labor market opportunities on women’s college education outcomes. To do so, we exploit discontinuity generated by a 2010 policy in Iran limiting female hiring in the public sector, which greatly worsened employment opportunities for college-educated women. We find that the hiring quota reduced women’s college attendance and the proportion of female students in college majors linked to public sector employment. The data also provide suggestive evidence that those who do not attend college are more likely to get married young and have children. This paper shows labor market returns as an important determinant of education pursuit even in a country, where the society is highly conservative and women’s employment possibilities are low. The results also provide interesting insights on the effectiveness of public policies affecting gender inequality in the presence of traditional gender norms