Does Co-Residence with Parents-In-Law Reduce Women's Employment in India?

Arbeitspapier

We examine the effect of co-residence with fathers- and mothers-in-law on married women's employment in India. Instrumental variable fixed effects estimates using two different household panel datasets indicate that co-residence with a father-in-law reduces married women's employment by 11-13%, while co-residence with a mother-in-law has no effect. Difference-in-difference estimates show that married women's employment increases following the death of a co-residing father-in-law, but not mother-in-law. We investigate three classes of explanations for this: income effects, increased domestic responsibilities, and social norms. Our evidence is consistent with gender- and generational norms intersecting to constrain married women's employment when parents-in-law co-reside.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 10238

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination ; Time Allocation and Labor Supply ; Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse ; Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development ; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
• Subject: female employment ; family structure ; labour supply ; parents-in-law

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Jayaraman, Rajshri ; Khan, Bisma
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2023

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/271882
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET