while common factors help determine labour market participation for both women and men women often face a far more restrictive range of such factors compared with men household and social norms in the subregion assume that women take the vast majority of responsibility for domestic work and caregiving and are sometimes restricted from labour market participation altogether if household income levels are sufficiently high labour market segmentation and economic decisionmaking norms restrict the range of possible jobs in which women can participate low incomes and high informality in segmented occupations and economic activity create significant gender gaps in participation in premiumlevel formal employment