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Child Schooling and Work Decisions in India: The Role of Household and Regional Gender Equity

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  • Uma Sarada Kambhampati

Abstract

This paper tests three hypotheses about how mothers' autonomy in India affects their children's participation in school and the labor market. To do so it extends the concept of mothers' autonomy beyond the household to include the constraints imposed by the extent of gender equity in the regions in which these women live. This study began with the expectation that increased autonomy for Indian mothers living in heterosexual households would increase child schooling and decrease child work. However, the results are mixed, indicating that mother's autonomy can be reinforced or constrained by the environment. The paper concludes that mothers and fathers in India make different decisions for girls vis-a-vis boys and that the variables reflecting mothers' autonomy vary in their impact, so that mothers' level of education relative to fathers' is not often statistically significant, while mothers' increased contributions to household expenditure decrease the probability of schooling and girls' work.

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  • Uma Sarada Kambhampati, 2009. "Child Schooling and Work Decisions in India: The Role of Household and Regional Gender Equity," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 77-112.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:15:y:2009:i:4:p:77-112
    DOI: 10.1080/13545700903153997
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    Cited by:

    1. Francavilla, Francesca & Giannelli, Gianna Claudia & Grilli, Leonardo, 2013. "Mothers’ Employment and their Children’s Schooling: A Joint Multilevel Analysis for India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 183-195.
    2. Dayang Haszelinna binti Abang Ali & G. Reza Arabsheibani, 2016. "Child Labour in Indonesia: Supply-Side Determinants," Economics and Finance in Indonesia, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia, vol. 62, pages 162-179, December.
    3. Chhavi Tiwari & Srinivas Goli & Anu Rammohan, 2022. "Reproductive Burden and Its Impact on Female Labor Market Outcomes in India: Evidence from Longitudinal Analyses," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(6), pages 2493-2529, December.
    4. Fernandez, Antonia & Kambhampati, Uma S., 2017. "Shared agency: The dominant spouse’s impact on education expenditure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 182-197.
    5. Jihye Kim & Wendy Olsen & Arkadiusz Wiśniowski, 2023. "Predicting Child-Labour Risks by Norms in India," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(6), pages 1605-1626, December.
    6. Ramzi Mabsout, 2011. "Capability and Health Functioning in Ethiopian Households," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 101(3), pages 359-389, May.
    7. Lela Rospida & Kamaludin Kamaludin & Mochamad Ridwan, 2021. "Economic Analysis Child Labor Based Households in Bengkulu City," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 11(1), pages 140-146.
    8. Pushpendra Singh & Falguni Pattanaik, 2020. "Unfolding unpaid domestic work in India: women’s constraints, choices, and career," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(1), pages 1-13, December.
    9. Rajnish Kumar & Arup Mitra & Mayumi Murayama, 2013. "Toiling children in India: the gender dimension," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 40(10), pages 885-897, August.
    10. Gupta, Tanu & Negi, Digvijay, 2021. "Daughter Vs. Daughter-in-Law: Kinship Roles and Women’s Time Use in India," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315021, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Fernandez, Antonia & Della Giusta, Marina & Kambhampati, Uma S., 2015. "The Intrinsic Value of Agency: The Case of Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 92-107.

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