Mothers-in-law and son preference in India
In India, the mothers-in-law are often portrayed as the most powerful entity in the household in Indian popular culture and media. Similarly, in the literature, the influence of the Indian mothers-in-law is often taken for granted. However, most of the empirical evidence relies on qualitative data o...
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| Format: | Article |
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Sameeksha Trust
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46809/ |
| _version_ | 1848797403731197952 |
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| author | Robitaille, Marie-Claire Chatterjee, Ishita |
| author_facet | Robitaille, Marie-Claire Chatterjee, Ishita |
| author_sort | Robitaille, Marie-Claire |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | In India, the mothers-in-law are often portrayed as the most powerful entity in the household in Indian popular culture and media. Similarly, in the literature, the influence of the Indian mothers-in-law is often taken for granted. However, most of the empirical evidence relies on qualitative data or on small samples. Looking at stated son preference and using the third nationally representative National Family and Health Survey dataset, we show that mothers-in-law do indeed have an influence on their daughter-in-law, everything else constant. Given the stronger son preference among mothers-in-law, this contributes to the high imbalance in the male to female sex-ratio observed among children in India. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:03:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-46809 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:03:20Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Sameeksha Trust |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-468092020-05-04T18:35:09Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46809/ Mothers-in-law and son preference in India Robitaille, Marie-Claire Chatterjee, Ishita In India, the mothers-in-law are often portrayed as the most powerful entity in the household in Indian popular culture and media. Similarly, in the literature, the influence of the Indian mothers-in-law is often taken for granted. However, most of the empirical evidence relies on qualitative data or on small samples. Looking at stated son preference and using the third nationally representative National Family and Health Survey dataset, we show that mothers-in-law do indeed have an influence on their daughter-in-law, everything else constant. Given the stronger son preference among mothers-in-law, this contributes to the high imbalance in the male to female sex-ratio observed among children in India. Sameeksha Trust 2017-02-11 Article PeerReviewed Robitaille, Marie-Claire and Chatterjee, Ishita (2017) Mothers-in-law and son preference in India. Economic and Political Weekly, 52 (6). ISSN 2349-8846 Mothers-in-Law Son Preference India http://www.epw.in/journal/2017/6/special-articles/mothers-law-and-son-preference-india.html |
| spellingShingle | Mothers-in-Law Son Preference India Robitaille, Marie-Claire Chatterjee, Ishita Mothers-in-law and son preference in India |
| title | Mothers-in-law and son preference in India |
| title_full | Mothers-in-law and son preference in India |
| title_fullStr | Mothers-in-law and son preference in India |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mothers-in-law and son preference in India |
| title_short | Mothers-in-law and son preference in India |
| title_sort | mothers-in-law and son preference in india |
| topic | Mothers-in-Law Son Preference India |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46809/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46809/ |