The Extra Burden of Moslem Wives: Clues from Israeli Women's Labor Supply

I. Introduction This article offers an empirical study of labor supply among married women belonging to the three major religions in Israel: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. In addition, this article offers clues on how religion affects women's value of time in marriage by examining religious differentials in the effect of husband's income, number of children, education, and age on women's labor supply. There are no direct means by which the value of time in marriage can be accurately estimated. To compare women's value of time in marriage cross-culturally, one can examine ethnographic evidence, which is a very subjective methodology. Alternatively , one can study laws and customs, but this approach does not tell us much about how different laws and customs actually affect people's lives. The idea that labor supply and wages can provide clues on the value of time in the home is central to the modern study of labor supply. Labor economics recognizes the importance of family and home. Any estimate of participation in the labor force by married women takes account of the presence of children and estimates the effect of a husband's income on a wife's labor supply. The most popular economic theory that places labor supply in the context of the family is the Becker-Mincer theory of household production, which views women and men as producers of valuable ''commodities'' in the home. 1 Accordingly, the value of time in the home is modeled as a function of productivity in the home, which is in turn a function of education and age and of the household's demand for an individual's time in home production (e.g., a function of income).