Home Production and Gender Gap in Structural Change

ABSTRACT The gender gap in non‐agricultural employment in developing countries is concentrated among rural married workers. Within‐family specialization is central: Married women spend more time on home production, work fewer market hours, and are less likely to incur fixed costs of entering non‐agriculture. We develop a general equilibrium Roy model with joint household decisions, sector‐neutral gender labor wedges, and entry barriers. Calibrated to China in 2010, the model reproduces the observed gender employment gap. Gender labor wedges explain about 80% of it, amplified by within‐family specialization, while changing entry barriers account for its widening from 2000 to 2010.