Federica Meluzzi (CREST)
Gender norms are widely recognized as key determinants of persistent gender gaps in the labor market, yet our understanding of their drivers remains limited. This paper addresses this gap by examining how cultural assimilation from college peers influences women's early-career labor market decisions. I leverage idiosyncratic cross-cohort variation in peers' geographical origins within Master's programs, combined with unique administrative and survey data covering the universe of students in Italy. The main finding is that exposure to female classmates born in areas with a more egalitarian gender culture significantly increases women's labor supply, primarily through increased uptake of full-time jobs. Specifically, socialization with peers from areas with a one standard deviation higher female labor force participation offsets much of the negative impact of limited female role models in childhood, resulting in a 21-40% decrease in early-career gender gaps. Using original data on students' beliefs that I collected, I find that decreases in women's valuation of work hours flexibility, coupled with learning about the job offer distribution primarily drive the observed effects. Since peer effects are highly asymmetric, with benefits concentrated among women from less egalitarian backgrounds, education policies that promote diversity could play a crucial role in shifting gender norms and advancing gender equality in the labor market.