1932

Abstract

Is the high degree of gender inequality in developing countries—in education, personal autonomy, and more—explained by underdevelopment itself? Or do the societies that are poor today hold certain cultural views that lead to gender inequality? This article discusses several mechanisms through which gender gaps narrow as countries grow. I argue that although much of the GDP/gender-inequality relationship can be explained by the process of development, society-specific factors are also at play: Many countries that are poor today have cultural norms that exacerbate favoritism toward males. Norms such as patrilocality and concern for women’s “purity” help explain the male-skewed sex ratio in India and China and low female employment in India, the Middle East, and North Africa, for example. I also discuss why the sex ratio has become more male-skewed with development. Finally, I lay out some policy approaches to address gender inequality.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-economics-080614-115404
2015-08-02
2024-03-28
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/economics/7/1/annurev-economics-080614-115404.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-economics-080614-115404&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Abrevaya J. 2009. Are there missing girls in the United States? Evidence from birth data. Am. Econ. J. Appl. Econ 1:21–34 [Google Scholar]
  2. Adukia A. 2014. Sanitation and education. Work. Pap., Univ. Chicago
  3. Albanesi S, Olivetti C. 2009. Gender roles and medical progress. NBER Work. Pap. 14873
  4. Alesina A, Giuliano P, Nunn N. 2013. On the origins of gender roles: women and the plough. Q. J. Econ. 128:469–530 [Google Scholar]
  5. Almond D, Edlund L. 2008. Son-biased sex ratios in the 2000 United States Census. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105:5681–82 [Google Scholar]
  6. Anderson S. 2003. Why dowry payments declined with modernization in Europe but are rising in India. J. Polit. Econ. 111:269–310 [Google Scholar]
  7. Anderson S. 2007. The economics of dowry and brideprice. J. Econ. Perspect. 21:4151–74 [Google Scholar]
  8. Anderson S, Bidner C. 2014. Property rights over marital transfers. Unpublished manuscript, Simon Fraser Univ., Burnaby, BC
  9. Anderson S, Genicot G. 2014. Suicide and property rights in India. NBER Work. Pap. 19978
  10. Anderson S, Ray D. 2010. Missing women: age and disease. Rev. Econ. Stud. 77:1262–300 [Google Scholar]
  11. Anukriti S. 2014. The fertility-sex ratio trade-off: unintended consequences of financial incentives. Work. Pap., Dep. Econ., Boston Coll.
  12. Arnold F, Choe MK, Roy T. 1998. Son preference, the family-building process and child mortality in India. Popul. Stud. 52:301–15 [Google Scholar]
  13. Beaman L, Chattopadhyay R, Duflo E, Pande R, Topalova P. 2009. Powerful women: Does exposure reduce bias?. Q. J. Econ. 124:1497–540 [Google Scholar]
  14. Beaman L, Chattopadhyay R, Duflo E, Pande R, Topalova P. 2012. Female leadership raises aspirations and educational attainment for girls: a policy experiment in India. Science 335:582–86 [Google Scholar]
  15. Bloch F, Rao V. 2002. Terror as a bargaining instrument: a case study of dowry violence in rural India. Am. Econ. Rev. 92:1029–43 [Google Scholar]
  16. Borooah VK, Iyer S. 2005. Religion, literacy, and the female-to-male ratio. Econ. Polit. Wkly. 40:419–27 [Google Scholar]
  17. Boserup E. 1970. Woman’s Role in Economic Development London: George Allen & Unwin
  18. Browning M, Bourguignon F, Chiappori PA, Lechene V. 1994. Income and outcomes: a structural model of intrahousehold allocation. J. Polit. Econ. 102:1067–96 [Google Scholar]
  19. Burde D, Linden LL. 2013. Bringing education to Afghan girls: a randomized controlled trial of village-based schools. Am. Econ. J. Appl. Econ. 5:327–40 [Google Scholar]
  20. Buss DM. 1989. Sex differences in human mate preferences: evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures. Behav. Brain Sci. 12:1–14 [Google Scholar]
  21. Carranza E. 2014. Soil endowments, female labor force participation, and the demographic deficit of women in India. Am. Econ. J. Appl. Econ. 6:4197–225 [Google Scholar]
  22. Chakraborty T, Kim S. 2010. Kinship institutions and sex ratios in India. Demography 47:989–1012 [Google Scholar]
  23. Chattopadhyay R, Duflo E. 2004. Women as policy makers: evidence from a nationwide randomized experiment in India. Econometrica 72:1409–43 [Google Scholar]
  24. Chen M. 1995. A matter of survival: women’s right to employment in India and Bangladesh. Women, Culture and Development Nussbaum M, Glover J. 37–57 Oxford, UK: Clarendon [Google Scholar]
  25. Chen Y, Li H, Lingsheng M. 2013. Prenatal sex selection and missing girls in China: evidence from the diffusion of diagnostic ultrasound. J. Hum. Resour. 48:36–70 [Google Scholar]
  26. Clark S. 2000. Son preference and sex composition of children: evidence from India. Demography 37:95–108 [Google Scholar]
  27. Coen-Pirani D, Len A, Lugauer S. 2010. The effect of household appliances on female labor force participation: evidence from microdata. Labour Econ. 17:503–13 [Google Scholar]
  28. Das Gupta M, Zhenghua J, Bohua L, Zhenming X, Chung W, Hwa-Ok B. 2003. Why is son preference so persistent in East and South Asia? A cross-country study of China, India and the Republic of Korea. J. Dev. Stud. 40:153–87 [Google Scholar]
  29. Deininger K, Goyal A, Nagarajan H. 2013. Women’s inheritance rights and intergenerational transmission of resources in India. J. Hum. Resour. 48:114–41 [Google Scholar]
  30. Devoto F, Duflo E, Dupas P, Pariente W, Pons V. 2012. Happiness on tap: piped water adoption in urban Morocco. Am. Econ. J. Econ. Policy 4(4):68–99 [Google Scholar]
  31. Dhar D, Jain T, Jayachandran S. 2014. The intergenerational transmission of gender attitudes: evidence from India. Unpublished manuscript, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL
  32. Dinkelman T. 2011. The effects of rural electrification on employment: new evidence from South Africa. Am. Econ. Rev. 101:3078–108 [Google Scholar]
  33. Doepke M, Tertilt M. 2009. Women’s liberation: What’s in it for men?. Q. J. Econ. 124:1541–91 [Google Scholar]
  34. Doepke M, Tertilt M, Voena A. 2012. The economics and politics of women’s rights. Annu. Rev. Econ. 4:339–72 [Google Scholar]
  35. Duflo E. 2003. Grandmothers and granddaughters: old age pension and intra-household allocation in South Africa. World Bank Econ. Rev. 17:1–25 [Google Scholar]
  36. Duflo E. 2012. Women empowerment and economic development. J. Econ. Lit. 50:1051–79 [Google Scholar]
  37. Dyson T, Moore M. 1983. On kinship structure, female autonomy, and demographic behavior in India. Popul. Dev. Rev. 9:35–60 [Google Scholar]
  38. Ebenstein A. 2010. The missing girls of China and the unintended consequences of the One Child Policy. J. Hum. Resour. 45:87–115 [Google Scholar]
  39. Ebenstein A. 2014. Patrilocality and missing women. Work. Pap., Dep. Econ., Hebrew Univ., Jerusalem
  40. Ebenstein A, Leung S. 2010. Son preference and access to social insurance: evidence from China’s rural pension program. Popul. Dev. Rev. 36:47–70 [Google Scholar]
  41. Fernández R. 2014. Women’s rights and development. J. Econ. Growth 19:37–80 [Google Scholar]
  42. Fernández R, Fogli A. 2009. Culture: an empirical investigation of beliefs, work, and fertility. Am. Econ. J. Macroecon 1:1146–77 [Google Scholar]
  43. Fernández R, Fogli A, Olivetti C. 2004. Mothers and sons: preference formation and female labor force dynamics. Q. J. Econ. 119:1249–99 [Google Scholar]
  44. Field E, Ambrus A. 2008. Early marriage, age of menarche, and female schooling attainment in Bangladesh. J. Polit. Econ. 116:881–930 [Google Scholar]
  45. Field E, Jayachandran S, Pande R. 2010. Do traditional institutions constrain female entrepreneurship? A field experiment on business training in India. Am. Econ. Rev. 100:125–29 [Google Scholar]
  46. Field E, Jayachandran S, Pande R, Rigol N. 2014. Friends at work: Can peer support stimulate female entrepreneurship? Unpublished manuscript, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL
  47. Foster AD, Rosenzweig MR. 1996. Technical change and human-capital returns and investments: evidence from the Green Revolution. Am. Econ. Rev. 86:931–53 [Google Scholar]
  48. Galor O, Weil DN. 1996. The gender gap, fertility and growth. Am. Econ. Rev. 86:374–87 [Google Scholar]
  49. Goldin CD. 1986. The female labor force and American economic growth, 1890–1980. Long-Term Factors in American Economic Growth Engerman S, Gallman R. 557–604 Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press [Google Scholar]
  50. Goldin CD. 1995. The U-shaped female labor force function in economic development and economic history. Investment in Women’s Human Capital and Economic Development Schultz TP. 61–90 Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press [Google Scholar]
  51. Goldin CD, Katz LF. 2002. The power of the pill: oral contraceptives and women’s career and marriage decisions. J. Polit. Econ. 110:730–70 [Google Scholar]
  52. Goldin CD, Katz LF. 2009. The Race Between Education and Technology Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press
  53. Goldin CD, Katz LF, Kuziemko I. 2006. The homecoming of American college women: the reversal of the college gender gap. J. Econ. Perspect. 20:4133–56 [Google Scholar]
  54. Goldstein M, Udry C. 2008. The profits of power: land rights and agricultural investment in Ghana. J. Polit. Econ. 116:981–1022 [Google Scholar]
  55. Greenwood J, Seshadri A, Yorukoglu M. 2005. Engines of liberation. Rev. Econ. Stud. 72:109–33 [Google Scholar]
  56. Jayachandran S. 2014. Fertility decline and missing women. NBER Work. Pap. 20272
  57. Jayachandran S, Kuziemko I. 2011. Why do mothers breastfeed girls less than boys? Evidence and implications for child health in India. Q. J. Econ. 126:1485–538 [Google Scholar]
  58. Jayachandran S, Lleras-Muney A. 2009. Life expectancy and human capital investments: evidence from maternal mortality declines. Q. J. Econ. 124:349–97 [Google Scholar]
  59. Jensen R. 2003. Equal treatment, unequal outcomes? Generating sex inequality through fertility behavior. Unpublished manuscript, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA
  60. Jensen R. 2012. Do labor market opportunities affect young women’s work and family decisions? Experimental evidence from India. Q. J. Econ. 127:753–92 [Google Scholar]
  61. Jensen R, Oster E. 2009. The power of TV: cable television and women’s status in India. Q. J. Econ. 124:1057–94 [Google Scholar]
  62. Kanbur R, Haddad L. 1994. Are better off households more unequal or less unequal?. Oxf. Econ. Pap. 46:445–58 [Google Scholar]
  63. Kazianga H, Levy D, Linden LL, Sloan M. 2013. The effects of “girl-friendly” schools: evidence from the BRIGHT school construction program in Burkina Faso. Am. Econ. J. Appl. Econ. 5:341–62 [Google Scholar]
  64. Kim J, Alderman H, Orazem PF. 1999. Can private school subsidies increase enrollment for the poor? The Quetta Urban Fellowship Program. World Bank Econ. Rev. 13:443–65 [Google Scholar]
  65. Kusum. . 1993. The use of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for sex selection: the Indian scene. Bioethics 7:149–65 [Google Scholar]
  66. La Ferrara E, Chong A, Duryea S. 2012. Soap operas and fertility: evidence from Brazil. Am. Econ. J. Appl. Econ. 4:41–31 [Google Scholar]
  67. Li L, Wu X. 2011. Gender of children, bargaining power, and intrahousehold resource allocation in China. J. Hum. Resour. 46:295–316 [Google Scholar]
  68. Lin MJ, Liu JT, Qian N. 2014. More missing women, fewer dying girls: the impact of abortion on sex ratios at birth and excess female mortality in Taiwan. J. Eur. Econ. Assoc. 12:899–926 [Google Scholar]
  69. Luke N, Munshi K. 2011. Women as agents of change: female income and mobility in India. J. Dev. Econ. 94:1–17 [Google Scholar]
  70. Mammen K, Paxson C. 2000. Women’s work and economic development. J. Econ. Perspect. 14:4141–64 [Google Scholar]
  71. Mandelbaum DG. 1970. Society in India, Vols. 1–2. Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press
  72. Meeks R. 2014. Water works: the economic impact of water infrastructure. Unpublished manuscript, Univ. Michigan, Ann Arbor
  73. Milazzo A. 2014. Why are adult women missing? Son preference and maternal survival in India. Policy Res. Work. Pap. 6802, World Bank, Washington, DC
  74. Miller G. 2010. Contraception as development? New evidence from family planning in Colombia. Econ. J. 120:709–36 [Google Scholar]
  75. Munshi K, Rosenzweig MR. 2006. Traditional institutions meet the modern world: caste, gender and schooling choice in a globalizing economy. Am. Econ. Rev. 96:1225–52 [Google Scholar]
  76. Muralidharan K, Prakash N. 2013. Cycling to school: increasing secondary school enrollment for girls in India. NBER Work. Pap. 19305
  77. Muralidharan K, Sheth K. 2013. Bridging education gender gaps in developing countries: the role of female teachers. NBER Work. Pap. 19341
  78. Oster E. 2009. Does increased access increase equality? Gender and child health investments in India. J. Dev. Econ. 89:62–76 [Google Scholar]
  79. Pitt M, Rosenzweig MR, Hassan MN. 2012. Human capital investment and the gender division of labor in a brawn-based economy. Am. Econ. Rev. 102:3531–60 [Google Scholar]
  80. Preston SH. 1976. Mortality Patterns in National Populations New York: Academic
  81. Qian N. 2008. Missing women and the price of tea in China: the effect of sex-specific earnings on sex imbalance. Q. J. Econ. 123:1251–85 [Google Scholar]
  82. Ramakrishnan S, Khera R, Jain S, Saxena A, Kailash S et al. 2011. Gender differences in the utilisation of surgery for congenital heart disease in India. Heart 97:1920–25 [Google Scholar]
  83. Ramey VA. 2009. Time spent in home production in the twentieth-century United States: new estimates from old data. J. Econ. Hist. 69:1–47 [Google Scholar]
  84. Rao V. 1993. The rising price of husbands: a hedonic analysis of dowry increases in rural India. J. Polit. Econ. 101:666–67 [Google Scholar]
  85. Rose E. 1999. Consumption smoothing and excess female mortality in rural India. Rev. Econ. Stat. 81:41–49 [Google Scholar]
  86. Roy S. 2013. Empowering women: inheritance rights and female education in India. Unpublished manuscript, Dep. Econ., Warwick Univ., Coventry, UK
  87. Schultz TP. 2004. School subsidies for the poor: evaluating the Mexican Progresa poverty program. J. Dev. Econ. 74:199–250 [Google Scholar]
  88. Sen A. 1990. More than 100 million women are missing. New York Rev. Books, Dec. 20, p. 61–66
  89. Thomas D. 1990. Intra-household resource allocation: an inferential approach. J. Hum. Resour. 25:635–64 [Google Scholar]
  90. World Health Organization 2014. Maternal mortality. Fact Sheet 348. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs348/en/
  91. Yamaguchi K. 1989. A formal theory for male-preferring stopping rules of child-bearing: sex differences in birth order and in the number of siblings. Demography 26:451–65 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-economics-080614-115404
Loading
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-economics-080614-115404
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error