Son Preference and Children’s Housework: The Case of India

Abstract

We use a nationally representative survey of Indian households (NFHS-3) to conduct the first study that analyzes whether son preference is associated with girls bearing a larger burden of housework than boys. Housework is a non-negligible part of child labor in which around 60 % of children in our sample are engaged. The preference for male offspring is measured by a mother’s ideal proportion of sons among her offspring. We show that when the ideal proportion increases from 0 to 1, the gap in the time spent on weekly housework for an average girl compared to that of a boy increases by 2.5 h. We conduct several robustness analyses. First, we estimate the main model separately by caste, religion, and family size. Second, we use a two-stage model to look at participation into housework (as well as other types of work) in addition to hours. Third, we use mother’s fertility intentions as an alternative measure of son preference. The analysis confirms that stated differences in male preference translate in de facto differences in girl’s treatment.

Are Daughters Always the Losers in the Chore War? Evidence Using Household Data from Vietnam

“…Diligent work implies better-performing houseworkers. Hence, our suggestion is similar to those reported earlier by Alvarez and Miles (2003), Dammert (2010) and Lin and Adserà (2013).…”

“…Table 2, the gender gap in the allocation of unpaid housework hours within a household is significant, with daughters completing an additional 5.25 minutes of housework per day than their brothers. However, this is significantly less than the 1-3 hours per week estimated by Lin and Adserà (2013) using Indian data.…”

“…Similarly, Pande (2003) evidences a gender difference that provides a disadvantage to daughters in childhood nutrition and immunisation. In particular, Lin and Adserà (2013) suggest that daughters could bear a burden of 2.5 hours more housework per week where the son has a higher perceived value.…”

Gender Discrimination and Excess Female Under-5 Mortality in India: A New Perspective Using Mixed-Sex Twins

“…Compared with the pre-1995 period, we find that later cohorts of mixed-sex twins are born into smaller families with lower indicators of stated son preference. Although these results refer to stated preference indicators, it is plausible that son preference has weakened through socioeconomic development (Chung and Das Gupta 2007;Kashyap and Villavicencio 2016) via channels such as improved educational and economic opportunities for women (Bhat and Zavier 2003;Luke and Munshi 2011;Murthi et al 1995;Pande and Astone 2007) and media exposure (Jensen and Oster 2009;Lin and Adserà 2013;Ting et al 2014). Furthermore, since the 1990s, several states across India have launched financial incentive policies to encourage investments in daughters' health and education.…”

Preference for male child among married adults in rural and urban field practice areas of Narayana Medical College, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India

“…In a study conducted to analyse the gender gaps in hours of housework children undertake in Indian families, et al found that girls in families with son preference are relatively more likely to exert positive hours of housework, but not of other types of work. 11 Also, in terms of family planning, a study conducted in Bhopal identified that subjects having 2 male children preferred permanent method of contraception (66%) as compared to subjects having 2 female children (7.93%), this result is statistically significant (p<0.05) showing a strong preference for male child in Indian society. 12 Limitations of the study is less time of study.…”