Socio-economic differentials in intergenerational educational mobility among women in India

A few studies have related daughters’ education to their fathers in India but there is little to no evidence when it comes to intergenerational relation between daughters and mothers’ education. Using India Human Development Survey 2011-12, we investigate intergenerational educational mobility for women (15-49 years) (vis-à-vis their mothers). We have used mobility matrices/measures for the estimation. Findings indicate that intergenerational educational mobility at the all-India level is about 0.69, that is, 69% of the women acquire a level of education different from their mothers. Of the overall mobility, about 80% is contributed by upwards mobility whereas the rest is downwards. Mobility is greater in urban areas and is highest among the socially advantaged “Others” (or upper) caste group. Also, the upwards component is substantially lower for socially disadvantaged groups compared to Others. Further, there are large inter-regional variations, with situation being worst in the central and eastern regions which comprise of the underdeveloped states of India. Moreover, mobility (overall and upwards) increases consistently as one move up the income distribution. Furthermore, income is not able to neutralize the caste based gaps in overall mobility as overall mobility among the Others of the poorest income group is more than the overall mobility among Scheduled Castes/Tribes of the richest income group.