Female labor force participation in Turkey: The role of conservatism

•Adds a new variable that influences FLFP in Turkey: conservatism•Three indices are formed: religion, social norms, and conservatism.•Conservatism has a negative effect on female employment in urban areas.•No significant effect is seen in rural areas.

SynopsisThe aim of this paper is to investigate the role of conservatism in shaping women's labor force participation decision. Turkey is a particularly important case as, unlike in many other countries, female labor force participation (FLFP) has shown a decreasing trend over the last 50 years. In addition to the main determinants found in previous literature, this paper adds a new variable that influences FLFP in Turkey: conservatism and the role of social norms. Three indices that might influence FLFP are identified: religion, social norms, and conservatism. The results are in accordance with the previous literature, which reveals that urbanization, and education levels play an important role in FLFP. An additional important innovation of this paper is the identification of the impact of social norms and religion on rural and urban areas. While such factors have a negative effect on female employment in urban areas, no significant effect is seen in rural areas.