Title

Boys' versus Girls' Schooling in Nepal: Does It Vary by the Extent of Mothers' Autonomy?

Abstract

This paper hypothesises that resource allocation affecting the decisions relating to sons' versus daughters' schooling in Nepalese households is dependent on the extent of the mother's autonomy. Here, we posit that women's autonomy is a relative concept as a woman has degrees of decision-making power within her household. The results indicate that daughters' education is more likely to benefit when mothers solely make the decisions, but when decisions are made jointly with her spouse then the decisions are more likely to be in favour of sons' education. Our results indicate a marked gender difference in parental decisions over children's education, in the direction posited above, and less than 10% of mothers in the sample have complete autonomy over such decision-making. These results are important for policy-makers wishing to decrease gender bias in children's educational outcomes.

Department(s)

Economics

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2015.1044512

Publication Date

2015

Journal Title

Oxford Development Studies

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