Society & Culture / Social Issues / Gender & Feminism

Why 87% of Saudi Men Secretly Support Women Working (But You'd Never Know It)

Misperceived Social Norms: Women Working Outside the Home in Saudi Arabia

Leonardo Bursztyn, Alessandra L. González, David Yanagizawa-Drott

In 2017, only 4% of young married Saudi women worked outside the home. The global assumption? Deep, unyielding conservatism. But a groundbreaking study published in the American Economic Review by Bursztyn, González, and Yanagizawa-Drott reveals a shocking truth: 87% of young Saudi men privately support women working. So why does the entire society remain frozen? The answer is pluralistic ignorance—a collective hallucination where everyone fears a judgment that doesn't exist. This video breaks down the experiment that proved this misconception, the simple five-second information intervention that shattered decades of stagnation, and what it reveals about invisible prisons in our own lives. If you've ever wondered why change feels impossible even when most people want it, this is for you.