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Shifting gendered social norms: Impact of a mass media campaign on child health in India

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  • Aparajita Dasgupta

    (Ashoka University)

  • Anisha Sharma

    (Ashoka University)

Abstract

Policy measures that seek to address son preference through restrictions on the tools of sex-selective abortions, without addressing the underlying causes, have been found to generate negative welfare consequences for unwanted surviving girls. Unlike these topdown supply-side measures, demand-side measures that focus on increasing the demand for girls by shifting social norms of son preference can mitigate these adverse welfare consequences. We study the impact of an intervention aimed at reducing discrimination against girls, which has both supply-side and demand-side elements. The intervention, implemented in India between 2015-18 included a mass media campaign designed to increase the perception of the value of a female child, while also tightening the policing of illegal sex-selective abortions. We exploit variation in the timing of exposure to the programme across Indian districts as well as quasi-exogenous variation in the sex of the firstborn child to identify the impact of the programme and find that it led to an increased proportion of female births as well as a reduction in the gender gap in mortality in intensively treated families. The main mechanism that explains our results is a relative increase in health investments in daughters, such as breastfeeding and vaccinations.

Suggested Citation

  • Aparajita Dasgupta & Anisha Sharma, 2022. "Shifting gendered social norms: Impact of a mass media campaign on child health in India," Working Papers 85, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ash:wpaper:85
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