The Dual Burdens of Disability and Gender Norms: Understanding disabled women’s fertility in developing countries

Yangyang Zhang, Xinye Zheng and Shiko Maruyama

Discussion papers from Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI)

Abstract: How do disabilities affect fertility? Evidence remains scarce in developing countries, where disabilities and son preference are widespread. We construct retrospective panel data on fertility using a hand-collected survey in China. Since son preference is difficult to measure, we embed detailed One-Child Policy rules and existing children’s sex composition into finite mixture models to uncover “patriarchal†and “non-patriarchal†types. We find that wives’ disabilities significantly reduce childbearing, consistent with findings from developed countries. However, in patriarchal families—typically rural with older, educated husbands— wives’ disabilities increase fertility, as childbearing continues until a son is born, seemingly exploiting the wives’ disabilities.

Pages: 62 pages
Date: 2025-06
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eti:dpaper:25060

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