Intrahousehold Gender Relations and Child Labor and Schooling in Rural Ethiopia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Child labor and low schooling of children are still serious issues in many developing countries and finding a breakthrough to substantially reduce these phenomena are urgent according to the International Labor Organization (ILO). This study investigated how child labor and schooling vary with intrahousehold gender relations in rural Ethiopia, using data from the 2009 Ethiopian Rural Household Survey (ERHS). The sample includes 1,922 children between the ages of 5 and 15 years in 755 households. Indicators are used to measure mothers’ and fathers’ roles on various tasks within a household. The study examines how the distribution of gender relations within a household influences children’s time use in schooling and labor activities. One innovation used in the study is the construction of intrahousehold gender relations on a continuum. The findings indicate that balanced intrahousehold relations and gender roles between parents increase the chances of both boys and girls going to school while reducing the hours they spend on domestic work. Findings from the other covariates point to the gendered processes behind human capital formation in rural Ethiopia, which warrant separate investigations of boys’ and girls’ labor and schooling activities.