Is Gender Destiny? Gender Bias and Intergenerational Educational Mobility in India

Abstract

We incorporate gender bias against girls in the family, school and labor market in a model of intergenerational educational mobility. The standard linear mobility equation is derived under constant returns, but it generates implausible predictions such as son preference has no impact on relative mobility. With diminishing returns, the mobility equation is concave, and parental bias affects both relative and absolute mobility. Mobility and investment equations from the model are estimated for India using data not truncated by coresidency. Evidence rejects the linear model in favor of a concave relation. The linear model misses important heterogeneity and yields misleading conclusions such as no son preference in rural India. Daughters of uneducated fathers are doubly disadvantaged: they face lower relative and absolute mobility in rural and urban India. The gender gap closes in urban India when the father is college educated, but not in rural areas. The college educated urban households achieve gender convergence despite persistent bias against the daughters in educational expenditure. The evidence interpreted in terms of the theoretical insights suggests a larger impact of parental nonfinancial inputs on girls, and a higher incidence of selective abortions in the urban areas are important for understanding the rural-urban differences.