The extra burden of muslim wives: Clues from Israeli Women’s labor supply

This chapter 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 chapter offers clues on how religion affects women’s value of time in marriageby 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.