Curse of the Mummy-ji : The Influence of Mothers-in-Law on Women in India

Restrictive social norms and strategic constraints imposed by family members can limit women's access to and benefits from social networks, especially in patrilocal societies. We characterize young married women's social networks in rural India and analyze how inter-generational power dyna...

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Main Authors:	Anukriti, S, Herrera-Almanza, Catalina, Pathak, Praveen K., Karra, Mahesh
Format:	Journal Article
Published:	John Wiley and Sons 2022
Subjects:	FAMILY PLANNING MOBILITY MOTHER-IN-LAW REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SOCIAL NETWORKS
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37002

id	okr-10986-37002
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-370022022-02-19T05:10:37Z Curse of the Mummy-ji : The Influence of Mothers-in-Law on Women in India Anukriti, S Herrera-Almanza, Catalina Pathak, Praveen K. Karra, Mahesh FAMILY PLANNING MOBILITY MOTHER-IN-LAW REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SOCIAL NETWORKS Restrictive social norms and strategic constraints imposed by family members can limit women's access to and benefits from social networks, especially in patrilocal societies. We characterize young married women's social networks in rural India and analyze how inter-generational power dynamics within the household affect their network formation. Using primary data from Uttar Pradesh, we show that co-residence with the mother-in-law is negatively correlated with her daughter-in-law's mobility and ability to form social connections outside the household, especially those related to health, fertility, and family planning. Our findings suggest that the mother-in-law's restrictive behavior is potentially driven by the misalignment of fertility preferences between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. The lack of peers outside the household lowers the daughter-in-law's likelihood of visiting a family planning clinic and of using modern contraception. We find suggestive evidence that this is because outside peers (a) positively influence daughter-in-law's beliefs about the social acceptability of family planning and (b) enable the daughter-in-law to overcome mobility constraints by accompanying her to health clinics. Wiley Terms and Conditions, https://authorservices.wiley.com/author-resources/Journal-Authors/licensing/self-archiving.html 2022-02-18T17:56:58Z 2022-02-18T17:56:58Z 2020-08-23 Journal Article American Journal of Agricultural Economics http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37002 Wiley Terms and Conditions https://authorservices.wiley.com/author-resources/Journal-Authors/licensing/self-archiving.html World Bank John Wiley and Sons Publications & Research :: Journal Article South Asia India
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
topic	FAMILY PLANNING MOBILITY MOTHER-IN-LAW REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SOCIAL NETWORKS
spellingShingle	FAMILY PLANNING MOBILITY MOTHER-IN-LAW REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SOCIAL NETWORKS Anukriti, S Herrera-Almanza, Catalina Pathak, Praveen K. Karra, Mahesh Curse of the Mummy-ji : The Influence of Mothers-in-Law on Women in India
geographic_facet	South Asia India
description	Restrictive social norms and strategic constraints imposed by family members can limit women's access to and benefits from social networks, especially in patrilocal societies. We characterize young married women's social networks in rural India and analyze how inter-generational power dynamics within the household affect their network formation. Using primary data from Uttar Pradesh, we show that co-residence with the mother-in-law is negatively correlated with her daughter-in-law's mobility and ability to form social connections outside the household, especially those related to health, fertility, and family planning. Our findings suggest that the mother-in-law's restrictive behavior is potentially driven by the misalignment of fertility preferences between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. The lack of peers outside the household lowers the daughter-in-law's likelihood of visiting a family planning clinic and of using modern contraception. We find suggestive evidence that this is because outside peers (a) positively influence daughter-in-law's beliefs about the social acceptability of family planning and (b) enable the daughter-in-law to overcome mobility constraints by accompanying her to health clinics. Wiley Terms and Conditions, https://authorservices.wiley.com/author-resources/Journal-Authors/licensing/self-archiving.html
format	Journal Article
author	Anukriti, S Herrera-Almanza, Catalina Pathak, Praveen K. Karra, Mahesh
author_facet	Anukriti, S Herrera-Almanza, Catalina Pathak, Praveen K. Karra, Mahesh
author_sort	Anukriti, S
title	Curse of the Mummy-ji : The Influence of Mothers-in-Law on Women in India
title_short	Curse of the Mummy-ji : The Influence of Mothers-in-Law on Women in India
title_full	Curse of the Mummy-ji : The Influence of Mothers-in-Law on Women in India
title_fullStr	Curse of the Mummy-ji : The Influence of Mothers-in-Law on Women in India
title_full_unstemmed	Curse of the Mummy-ji : The Influence of Mothers-in-Law on Women in India
title_sort	curse of the mummy-ji : the influence of mothers-in-law on women in india
publisher	John Wiley and Sons
publishDate	2022
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37002
_version_	1764486331943092224

Curse of the Mummy-ji : The Influence of Mothers-in-Law on Women in India

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