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Is there a gender gap in child nutritional outcomes in rural China?

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  • Ren, Weiwei
  • Rammohan, Anu
  • Wu, Yanrui

Abstract

In this paper, we use data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) to examine if there are any gender differences in child anthropometric outcomes among rural Chinese children, explicitly taking into account the role of China's family planning policies. Our analysis shows that although there have been improvements in the child anthropometric measures height-for-age and weight-for-age over the last two decades, children, particularly girls from non-one child households have adverse nutritional outcomes. These gender differences persist in two-child households, where boys have better height-for-age outcomes when their sibling is a male rather than a female. Our decomposition model finds that there is a large unexplained component, which may be attributed to gender discrimination against the girl child.

Suggested Citation

  • Ren, Weiwei & Rammohan, Anu & Wu, Yanrui, 2014. "Is there a gender gap in child nutritional outcomes in rural China?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 145-155.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:31:y:2014:i:c:p:145-155
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2014.09.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Hua Zhou & Di Mo & Renfu Luo & Ai Yue & Scott Rozelle, 2016. "Are Children with Siblings Really More Vulnerable Than Only Children in Health, Cognition and Non-cognitive Outcomes? Evidence from a Multi-province Dataset in China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 24(3), pages 3-17, May.
    2. Meijuan Wang & Denis Nadolnyak & Valentina Hartarska, 2021. "Gender Differences in Child Malnutrition in Ethiopia: Evidence from Three Decomposition Techniques," Research in Applied Economics, Macrothink Institute, vol. 13(3), pages 67-94, September.
    3. Pierre van der Eng & Kitae Sohn, 2018. "The Biological Standard of Living in China during the 20th Century: Evidence from the Age at Menarche," CEH Discussion Papers 10, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    4. Samantha B. Rawlings, 2015. "Parental education and child health: Evidence from an education reform in China," CINCH Working Paper Series 1511, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Competent in Competition and Health, revised Aug 2015.
    5. Li Zhou & Xiaohong Chen & Lei Lei, 2018. "Intra-Household Allocation of Nutrients in an Opening China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-24, April.
    6. Bo Yang & Xin Huang & Qin Liu & Shenglan Tang & Mary Story & Yiwen Chen & Maigeng Zhou, 2020. "Child Nutrition Trends Over the Past Two Decades and Challenges for Achieving Nutrition SDGs and National Targets in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-12, February.
    7. Qian Sun & Xiaoyun Li & Dil Bahadur Rahut, 2021. "Gender Differences in Nutritional Intake among Rural-Urban Migrants in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-17, September.
    8. Divya Mishra, 2023. "Gender Gap in Food Security and Nutrition: Special Case of India in the G20," India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, , vol. 79(4), pages 564-574, December.
    9. Shen, Ke & Wang, Feng & Cai, Yong, 2016. "Patterns of inequalities in public transfers by gender in China," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 8(C), pages 76-84.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rural China; Child health; Gender differences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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