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The Changing Status of Daughters in Indonesia

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  • Kevane, Michael
  • Levine, David I.

Abstract

In many nations, parents exhibit a variety of behaviors that favor sons over daughters. In this paper we provide evidence suggesting that in Indonesia there is no problem of “missing daughters” and that patterns of births, birth spacing and nutrition allocations do not suggest son preference during the cohorts born from 1940’s to the 1990’s. In contrast, gender differences in educational attainment and inheritance were quite prevalent in the recent past. These gaps have narrowed for secondary education and inheritance, and disappeared for primary education. In many nations, parents exhibit a variety of behaviors that favor sons over daughters. In this paper we provide evidence suggesting that in Indonesia there is no problem of “missing daughters” and that patterns of births, birth spacing and nutrition allocations do not suggest son preference during the cohorts born from 1940’s to the 1990’s. In contrast, gender differences in educational attainment and inheritance were quite prevalent in the recent past. These gaps have narrowed for secondary education and inheritance, and disappeared for primary education.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevane, Michael & Levine, David I., 2000. "The Changing Status of Daughters in Indonesia," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt09m817c0, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:indrel:qt09m817c0
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    Cited by:

    1. Daniel L. Millimet & Le Wang, 2011. "Is the Quantity-Quality Trade-Off a Trade-Off for All, None, or Some?," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(1), pages 155-195.
    2. Samarakoon, Shanika & Parinduri, Rasyad A., 2015. "Does Education Empower Women? Evidence from Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 428-442.
    3. David I. Levine & Minnie Ames, 2003. "Gender Bias and The Indonesian Financial Crisis: Were Girls Hit Hardest?," Development and Comp Systems 0303001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Michael Kevane & David I. Levine, 2003. "Are Investments in Daughters Lower When Daughters Move Away?," Development and Comp Systems 0303002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Dahl, Gordon B. & Moretti, Enrico, 2004. "The Demand for Sons: Evidence from Divorce, Fertility, and Shotgun Marriage," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt63f8483b, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    6. James Ng, 2018. "Labour migration in Indonesia and the health of children left behind," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-10, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Subha Mani, 2012. "Is there Complete, Partial, or No Recovery from Childhood Malnutrition? – Empirical Evidence from Indonesia," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 74(5), pages 691-715, October.
    8. Ahsan,Md Nazmul & Banerjee,Rakesh & Maharaj,Riddhi, 2020. "Early-Life Access to a Basic Health Care Program and Adult Outcomes in Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9243, The World Bank.
    9. James Ng, 2018. "Labour migration in Indonesia and the health of children left behind," WIDER Working Paper Series 010, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Mardiana Dwi Puspitasari & Maria Gayatri, 2020. "Indonesia Infant and Young Child Feeding Practice: The Role of Women’s Empowerment in Household Domain," Global Journal of Health Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(9), pages 129-129, August.
    11. Anu Rammohan & Meliyanni Johar, 2009. "The Determinants of Married Women's Autonomy in Indonesia," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 31-55.
    12. Uma Radhakrishnan, 2010. "A Dynamic Structural Model of Contraceptive Use and Employment Sector Choice for Women in Indonesia," Working Papers 10-28, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    13. Ervin Dervisevic & Maria C. Lo Bue & Elizaveta Perova, 2021. "Maternal employment and children's outcomes: Evidence from Indonesia," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-186, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Levine, David & Kevane, Michael, 2003. "Are Investments in Daughters Lower when Daughters Move Away? Evidence from Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1065-1084, June.
    15. Brehm, Margaret E. & Brehm, Paul A., 2022. "Drill, baby, drill: Natural resource shocks and fertility in Indonesia," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    16. Daniel Suryadarma, 2015. "Gender differences in numeracy in Indonesia: evidence from a longitudinal dataset," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 180-198, April.
    17. Palloni, Giordano, 2017. "Childhood health and the wantedness of male and female children," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 19-32.
    18. Daniel Suryadarma, 2010. "Labor Market Returns, Marriage Opportunities, or the Education System? Explaining Gender Differences in Numeracy in Indonesia," CEPR Discussion Papers 644, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    19. Sophie Hedges & David W. Lawson & Jim Todd & Mark Urassa & Rebecca Sear, 2019. "Sharing the Load: How Do Coresident Children Influence the Allocation of Work and Schooling in Northwestern Tanzania?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(5), pages 1931-1956, October.
    20. Fernandez, Antonia & Kambhampati, Uma S., 2017. "Shared agency: The dominant spouse’s impact on education expenditure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 182-197.
    21. Jing Li & William H. Dow & Luis Rosero-Bixby, 2017. "Education Gains Attributable to Fertility Decline: Patterns by Gender, Period, and Country in Latin America and Asia," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(4), pages 1353-1373, August.
    22. Zhang, Yiyun & Luh, Yir-Hueih, 2018. "Grandparents' health and family fertility choice: Evidence from Taiwan," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 294-308.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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