Women's employment and Children's education: Longitudinal evidence from Nepal

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

3-1-2022

Journal

Social science research

Volume

103

DOI

10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102669

Keywords

Education; Maternal employment; Nepal; Social status; Work characteristics

Abstract

This study examines how maternal employment is related to children's school enrollment in rural Nepal. Using the Chitwan Valley Family Study we combine over 30 years (1974-2008) of yearly data on mother's employment and their children's education. Results reveal heterogeneity by gender, social status, and type of work. Children from historically disadvantaged social groups were more likely to be in school when their mothers started working. This was largely driven by mothers with jobs that allowed them to more easily combine work and family tasks (i.e., those self-employed in the home). In fact, maternal self-employment outside the home was associated with boys dropping out of school. Additionally, we find evidence that some of the observed relationship between maternal wage labor and children's school enrollment is due to household-level selection effects on mother's work.

Department

Global Health

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