The Glorified Mothers of Sons: Evidence from Sex Composition and Parental Time Allocation in Rural China

Abstract

We study the effects of sons versus daughters on parental joint time allocation between thelabor market and the household. Using data from the China Health and Nutrition Surveyfrom 1989 to 2006, we apply a fixed-effects model to control for cross-household hetero-geneity in son preference. We find that the birth of sons rather than daughters significantlyreduces maternal time spent on household chores, which we argue represents an increasein maternal intra-household bargaining power. However, the effects of sex composition ofchildren on paternal time allocation and maternal time on labor-market activities are weakor mixed. Results are robust to a series of sensitive analyses.

Keywords: Son preference, sex composition of children, parental time allocation

JEL Classification: C23, J13, J22