Volume 36 - Article 52 | Pages 1601–1636  

The relationship between women's paid employment and women's stated son preference in India

By Julia Behrman, Sara Duvisac

Abstract

Objective: We explore whether women’s paid employment is associated with reductions in women’s stated son preference in India and whether these results vary by employment sector (agriculture, manufacturing, services, professional-technical) and skill level (education and literacy).

Methods: We conduct a logistic regression analysis of the relationship between women’s paid employment and women’s stated son preference among a sample of never-pregnant Indian women. We use the 2005 India National Family Health Survey (NFHS).

Results: Women’s paid employment in the service and manufacturing sectors is associated with significant reductions in the stated son preference of low-skilled women (i.e., low education and literacy). However, this negative association goes away for women at higher skill levels. In fact, paid employment in manufacturing is associated with significantly higher stated son preference among university-educated women. However, women’s paid employment in agriculture and the professional-technical sectors is not significantly associated with women’s stated son preference. Finally, the association between women’s paid employment and stated son preference is significantly larger for women living in north India than for women living in south and east India.

Conclusions: We hypothesize that significant negative associations between women’s paid employment and women’s stated son preference occur only in cases where paid employment changes the economic status of women within the family.

Contribution: Our analysis demonstrates that there are important linkages between women’s paid employment and stated son preference, and draws attention to how the context of employment (e.g., sector and skill level) is differentially associated with demographic outcomes.

Author's Affiliation

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Women's employment and fertility in a global perspective (1960–2015)
Volume 43 - Article 25

An exploration of differences in ideal family size between Muslim and non-Muslim women in France
Volume 41 - Article 22

Out of Sync? Demographic and other social science research on health conditions in developing countries
Volume 24 - Article 2

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Losing the female survival advantage: Sex differentials in infant and child mortality in Pakistan
Volume 50 - Article 15    | Keywords: child mortality, family, gender discrimination, Pakistan, sex differentials, son preference, South Asia, survival analysis

Near-universal marriage, early childbearing, and low fertility: India’s alternative fertility transition
Volume 48 - Article 34    | Keywords: age at birth, fertility transition, India, low fertility, sterilisation

The gender gap in schooling outcomes: A cohort study of young men and women in India
Volume 48 - Article 33    | Keywords: cohort studies, educational attainment, gender, India, secondary education

The sex preference for children in Europe: Children’s sex and the probability and timing of births
Volume 48 - Article 8    | Keywords: Europe, family structure, fertility, gender, progression rate, sex, sex composition, son preference

Spatial heterogeneity in son preference across India’s 640 districts: An application of small-area estimation
Volume 47 - Article 26    | Keywords: census, India, model-based small-area estimation, National Family Health Surveys (NFHS), son preference