Legal reform versus private action : experimental evidence on attitudes toward gender equal inheritance from Tunisia

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dc.contributor.authorHAUSER, Christina Sarah
dc.date.accessioned2025-05-12T06:45:32Z
dc.date.available2025-05-12T06:45:32Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.descriptionPublished online: 06 May 2025
dc.description.abstractGender-discriminatory inheritance law persists in many countries, restricting women’s access to land, property and financial assets. In the absence of legal reform, individual action may offer a second-best solution. This paper investigates the extent to which favoring daughters with gifts is viewed as a socially acceptable way of privately attenuating the gender discrimination imposed by Islamic inheritance law in Tunisia. In a randomised experiment I test the impact of providing information on public support for inheritance law reform and/or the possibility to give a gift to one’s daughter on inheritance-related gender attitudes. Descriptive evidence suggests high levels of acceptance of compensating daughters with gifts, especially among higher-income individuals. Demand for legal reform is significantly higher among women and individuals with low education. The effectiveness of the informational treatments is mixed: the treatment effects on several inheritance-related gender attitudes are positive and marginally significant, but the effect is not long-lasting. By demonstrating that informational and social norms interventions may fail in the presence of strong baseline beliefs, this study contributes to the literature on misperceived social norms and the effectiveness of informational interventions in shaping gender norms and political attitudes. Given the current legal restrictions, I conclude that gifting is a socially accepted practice in Tunisia. However, since its use is restricted to a wealthy subset of the population who holds progressive gender attitudes, it is unlikely to be a sustainable alternative to legal reform in the long run.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationJournal of African economies, 2025, Art. ejaf004, OnlineFirst
dc.identifier.doi10.1093/jae/ejaf004
dc.identifier.issn1464-3723
dc.identifier.issn0963-8024
dc.identifier.otherejaf004
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1814/92618
dc.language.isoen
dc.orcid.putcode1814/82783:184407013
dc.publisherOxford University Press
dc.relation.ispartofJournal of African economies
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess
dc.subjectD31
dc.subjectJ16
dc.subjectN37
dc.subjectGender discrimination
dc.subjectInheritance
dc.subjectIslamic law
dc.subjectInformation experiment
dc.titleLegal reform versus private action : experimental evidence on attitudes toward gender equal inheritance from Tunisia
dc.typeArticle
dspace.entity.typePublication
person.identifier.orcid0000-0001-7792-0532
person.identifier.other45170
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationc8ecd67d-5dd5-444f-b678-5ef0a4cd6fec
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscoveryc8ecd67d-5dd5-444f-b678-5ef0a4cd6fec
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