Convincing the Mummy-ji: Improving Mother-in-Law Approval of Family Planning in India

S Anukriti, Catalina Herrera-Almanza, Mahesh Karra and Rocío Valdebenito

AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2022, vol. 112, 568-72

Abstract: Mothers-in-law, especially those in South Asia, can exert significant influence over women, often even more so than women's husbands or other household members. Using data from rural India, we first show that mothers-in-law are more likely than husbands to (i) disapprove of women's family planning use and (ii) want women to have more children, particularly sons, than women themselves want. Next, using a field experiment, we show that providing women with vouchers for subsidized family planning services not only enabled them to initiate discussions about family planning with their mothers-in-law but also increased their mothers-in-law's approval of family planning.

JEL-codes: J12 J13 J16 O15 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20221122

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