IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/ajagec/v102y2020i5p1328-1351.html

Curse of the Mummy‐ji: The Influence of Mothers‐in‐Law on Women in India†

Author

Listed:
  • S Anukriti
  • Catalina Herrera‐Almanza
  • Praveen K. Pathak
  • Mahesh Karra

Abstract

Restrictive social norms and strategic constraints imposed by family members can limit women's access to and benefits from social networks, especially in patrilocal societies. We characterize young married women's social networks in rural India and analyze how inter‐generational power dynamics within the household affect their network formation. Using primary data from Uttar Pradesh, we show that co‐residence with the mother‐in‐law is negatively correlated with her daughter‐in‐law's mobility and ability to form social connections outside the household, especially those related to health, fertility, and family planning. Our findings suggest that the mother‐in‐law's restrictive behavior is potentially driven by the misalignment of fertility preferences between the mother‐in‐law and the daughter‐in‐law. The lack of peers outside the household lowers the daughter‐in‐law's likelihood of visiting a family planning clinic and of using modern contraception. We find suggestive evidence that this is because outside peers (a) positively influence daughter‐in‐law's beliefs about the social acceptability of family planning and (b) enable the daughter‐in‐law to overcome mobility constraints by accompanying her to health clinics.

Suggested Citation

  • S Anukriti & Catalina Herrera‐Almanza & Praveen K. Pathak & Mahesh Karra, 2020. "Curse of the Mummy‐ji: The Influence of Mothers‐in‐Law on Women in India†," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(5), pages 1328-1351, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:ajagec:v:102:y:2020:i:5:p:1328-1351
    DOI: 10.1111/ajae.12114
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajae.12114
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ajae.12114?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Esther Duflo, 2012. "Women Empowerment and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1051-1079, December.
    2. Bramoulle, Yann & Galeotti, Andrea & Rogers, Brian (ed.), 2016. "The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Networks," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199948277.
    3. Lori Beaman & Niall Keleher & Jeremy Magruder, 2018. "Do Job Networks Disadvantage Women? Evidence from a Recruitment Experiment in Malawi," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(1), pages 121-157.
    4. Kandpal, Eeshani & Baylis, Kathy, 2019. "The social lives of married women: Peer effects in female autonomy and investments in children," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 26-43.
    5. Zenou, Yves & Jackson, Matthew O. & Rogers, Brian, 2016. "Networks: An economic perspective," CEPR Discussion Papers 11452, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Foster, Andrew D & Rosenzweig, Mark R, 1995. "Learning by Doing and Learning from Others: Human Capital and Technical Change in Agriculture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(6), pages 1176-1209, December.
    7. Hans-Peter Kohler & Jere Behrman & Susan Watkins, 2000. "Empirical Assessments of Social Networks, Fertility and Family Planning Programs," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 3(7).
    8. Shireen J. Jejeebhoy & Zeba A. Sathar, 2001. "Women's Autonomy in India and Pakistan: The Influence of Religion and Region," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 27(4), pages 687-712, December.
    9. Beaman, Lori & Dillon, Andrew, 2018. "Diffusion of agricultural information within social networks: Evidence on gender inequalities from Mali," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 147-161.
    10. Yann Bramoullé & Andrea Galeotti & Brian Rogers, 2016. "The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Networks," Post-Print hal-01447842, HAL.
    11. Karla Hoff & Priyanka Pandey, 2006. "Discrimination, Social Identity, and Durable Inequalities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 206-211, May.
    12. Acharya, Avidit & Blackwell, Matthew & Sen, Maya, 2016. "Explaining Causal Findings Without Bias: Detecting and Assessing Direct Effects," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 110(3), pages 512-529, August.
    13. Matthew O. Jackson, 2014. "Networks in the Understanding of Economic Behaviors," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 3-22, Fall.
    14. Anukriti, S & Bhalotra, Sonia R. & Tam, Hiu, 2016. "On the Quantity and Quality of Girls: New Evidence on Abortion, Fertility, and Parental Investments," IZA Discussion Papers 10271, IZA Network @ LISER.
    15. Abhijit Banerjee & Arun G Chandrasekhar & Esther Duflo & Matthew O Jackson, 2019. "Using Gossips to Spread Information: Theory and Evidence from Two Randomized Controlled Trials," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(6), pages 2453-2490.
    16. Edward Miguel & Michael Kremer, 2004. "Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(1), pages 159-217, January.
    17. Magnan, Nicholas & Spielman, David J. & Gulati, Kajal & Lybbert, Travis, 2015. "Information Networks among Women and Men and the Demand for an Agricultural Technology in India," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212209, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Godlonton, Susan & Thornton, Rebecca, 2012. "Peer effects in learning HIV results," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 118-129.
    19. Timothy G. Conley & Christopher R. Udry, 2010. "Learning about a New Technology: Pineapple in Ghana," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 35-69, March.
    20. Bhalotra, Sonia R. & Cochrane, Tom, 2010. "Where Have All the Young Girls Gone? Identification of Sex Selection in India," IZA Discussion Papers 5381, IZA Network @ LISER.
    21. Nava Ashraf & Erica Field & Jean Lee, 2014. "Household Bargaining and Excess Fertility: An Experimental Study in Zambia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(7), pages 2210-2237, July.
    22. Shelah Bloom & David Wypij & Monica Gupta, 2001. "Dimensions of women’s autonomy and the influence on maternal health care utilization in a north indian city," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(1), pages 67-78, February.
    23. Emily Oster & Rebecca Thornton, 2012. "Determinants Of Technology Adoption: Peer Effects In Menstrual Cup Take-Up," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(6), pages 1263-1293, December.
    24. Sisir Debnath, 2015. "The Impact of Household Structure on Female Autonomy in Developing Countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(5), pages 485-502, May.
    25. Dhanaraj, Sowmya & Mahambare, Vidya, 2019. "Family structure, education and women’s employment in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 17-29.
    26. Kaivan Munshi, 2014. "Community Networks and the Process of Development," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 49-76, Fall.
    27. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769, December.
    28. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    29. Yann Bramoullé & Andrea Galeotti & Brian Rogers, 2016. "The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Networks," Post-Print hal-03572533, HAL.
    30. Gram, Lu & Skordis-Worrall, Jolene & Mannell, Jenevieve & Manandhar, Dharma S. & Saville, Naomi & Morrison, Joanna, 2018. "Revisiting the patriarchal bargain: The intergenerational power dynamics of household money management in rural Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 193-204.
    31. Imbens, Guido W & Angrist, Joshua D, 1994. "Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 467-475, March.
    32. Pierre-Andre Chiappori & Maurizio Mazzocco, 2017. "Static and Intertemporal Household Decisions," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(3), pages 985-1045, September.
    33. Erica Field & Seema Jayachandran & Rohini Pande & Natalia Rigol, 2016. "Friendship at Work: Can Peer Effects Catalyze Female Entrepreneurship?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 125-153, May.
    34. Kaivan Munshi & Mark Rosenzweig, 2006. "Traditional Institutions Meet the Modern World: Caste, Gender, and Schooling Choice in a Globalizing Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(4), pages 1225-1252, September.
    35. McCarthy, Aine Seitz, 2019. "Intimate partner violence and family planning decisions: Experimental evidence from rural Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 156-174.
    36. Kumar, Neha & Raghunathan, Kalyani & Arrieta, Alejandra & Jilani, Amir & Chakrabarti, Suman & Menon, Purnima & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2019. "Social networks, mobility, and political participation: The potential for women’s self-help groups to improve access and use of public entitlement schemes in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 28-41.
    37. Hans-Peter Kohler & Jere Behrman & Susan Watkins, 2001. "The density of social networks and fertility decisions: evidence from south nyanza district, kenya," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(1), pages 43-58, February.
    38. Seema Jayachandran, 2015. "The Roots of Gender Inequality in Developing Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 63-88, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Augsburg, Britta & Malde, Bansi & Olorenshaw, Harriet & Wahhaj, Zaki, 2023. "To invest or not to invest in sanitation: The role of intra-household gender differences in perceptions and bargaining power," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    2. Priyasmita Ghosh & Rebecca Thornton, 2025. "The mother-in-law effect: Heterogeneous impacts of counseling on family planning take-up in Jordan," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1401-1429, December.
    3. Sara Ratna Qanti & Alexandra Peralta & Di Zeng, 2022. "Social norms and perceptions drive women’s participation in agricultural decisions in West Java, Indonesia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(2), pages 645-662, June.
    4. Nandan Jha & Neena Banerjee, 2025. "Effects of diffusion and education on women’s fertility in India," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 1-48, June.
    5. Afridi, Farzana & Dhillon, Amrita & Roy, Sanchari & Sangwan, Nikita, 2023. "Social Networks, Gender Norms and Labor Supply: Experimental Evidence Using a Job Search Platform," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 677, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    6. De La Rupelle, Maëlys & Dumas, Christelle, 2025. "Sterilizations and women health in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    7. Rosa Abraham & Rahul Lahoti & Hema Swaminathan, 2021. "Childbirth and women's labour market transitions in India (revised)," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-149, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Hauser,Christina Sarah, 2024. "Tackling Gender Discriminatory Inheritance Law Privately : Lessons from a Survey Expe riment in Tunisia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10693, The World Bank.
    9. Chauhan, Tarana, 2025. "Accounting for Empowerment? Examining Women's Financial Inclusion in India," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1689, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    10. World Bank, "undated". "Reshaping Norms," World Bank Publications - Reports 37121, The World Bank Group.
    11. Ambler, Kate & Doss, Cheryl & Kieran, Caitlin & Passarelli, Simone, 2022. "Spousal concordance in joint and separate households: Survey evidence from Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    12. Tanu Gupta & Digvijay S. Negi, 2021. "Daughter vs. Daughter-in-law: Kinship roles and women's time use in India," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2021-002, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    13. Pushpendra Singh & Falguni Pattanaik & Archana Singh, 2023. "Beyond the Clock: Exploring the Complexities of Women’s Domestic Roles in India Through the Lenses of Daughters and Daughters-in-Law," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 66(2), pages 535-559, June.
    14. Bimardhika, Elghafiky & Halim, Daniel Zefanya, 2026. "To Have It All ? Career and Family of College-Educated Women in an Emerging Economy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11326, The World Bank.
    15. Bhattacharya, Leena, 2023. "Time allocation of daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law in India: The role of education as bargaining power," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1343, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. S Anukriti & Catalina Herrera-Almanza & Mahesh Karra & Praveen Kumar Pathak, 2020. "Curse of the Mummy-ji: The Influence of Mothers-in-Law on Women in India," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-337, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    2. Lnu,Anukriti & Herrera-Almanza,Catalina & Karra,Mahesh Venkat, 2022. "Bring a Friend : Strengthening Women’s Social Networks and Reproductive Autonomy in India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10107, The World Bank.
    3. Kandpal, Eeshani & Baylis, Kathy, 2019. "The social lives of married women: Peer effects in female autonomy and investments in children," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 26-43.
    4. Islam, Asadul & Ushchev, Philip & Zenou, Yves & Zhang, Xin, 2019. "The Value of Information in Technology Adoption," IZA Discussion Papers 12672, IZA Network @ LISER.
    5. Zenou, Yves & Islam, Asad & Ushchev, Philip & Zhang, Xin, 2018. "The Value of Information in Technology Adoption: Theory and Evidence from Bangladesh," CEPR Discussion Papers 13419, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Arthur Campbell & C. Matthew Leister & Yves Zenou, 2020. "Word‐of‐mouth communication and search," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 51(3), pages 676-712, September.
    7. Anandi Mani & Emma Riley, 2019. "Social networks, role models, peer effects, and aspirations," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-120, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Matthew O. Jackson & Brian W. Rogers & Yves Zenou, 2016. "Networks: An Economic Perspective," Papers 1608.07901, arXiv.org.
    9. Brañas-Garza, Pablo & Kovářík, Jaromír & Rascón Ramírez, Ericka G., 2025. "Diffusion of mobile banking among rural women: Incentivizing local leaders vs. a marketing campaign," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    10. Antonia Grohmann & Sahra Sakha, 2015. "The Effect of Peer Observation on Consumption Choices: Experimental Evidence," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1525, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    11. Bonan, Jacopo & Battiston, Pietro & Bleck, Jaimie & LeMay-Boucher, Philippe & Pareglio, Stefano & Sarr, Bassirou & Tavoni, Massimo, 2021. "Social interaction and technology adoption: Experimental evidence from improved cookstoves in Mali," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    12. Matthew O. Jackson & Brian W. Rogers & Yves Zenou, 2017. "The Economic Consequences of Social-Network Structure," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(1), pages 49-95, March.
    13. Alison Andrew & Sonya Krutikova & Gabriela Smarrelli & Hemlata Verma, 2022. "Gender norms, violence and adolescent girls' trajectories: evidence from a field experiment in India," Economics Series Working Papers 984, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    14. Arias-Granada, Yurani & Bauchet, Jonathan & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob & Gulati, Kajal, 2025. "Social networks and the demand for credence agricultural technologies," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    15. Heitzig, Chris & O’Keeffe-O’Donovan, Rossa, 2024. "Spillover Effects and Diffusion of Savings Groups," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    16. Gallo, Edoardo, 2020. "Communication networks in markets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    17. Alison Andrew & Sonya Krutikova & Gabriela Smarrelli & Hemlata Verma, 2022. "Gender norms, violence and adolescent girls’ trajectories: evidence from a field experiment in India," IFS Working Papers W22/41, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    18. Julien Gagnon & Sanjeev Goyal, 2017. "Networks, Markets, and Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(1), pages 1-30, January.
    19. Deguilhem, Thibaud & Berrou, Jean-Philippe & Combarnous, François, 2017. "Using your ties to get a worse job? The differential effects of social networks on quality of employment: Evidence from Colombia," MPRA Paper 78628, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Carattini, Stefano & Gosnell, Greer & Tavoni, Alessandro, 2020. "How developed countries can learn from developing countries to tackle climate change," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:ajagec:v:102:y:2020:i:5:p:1328-1351. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-8276 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.