Public pre-schooling and maternal labour force participation in rural India. (2nd April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jain, Monica
• Is Part Of: Oxford development studies. Volume 44:Number 2(2016)
• Page Start: 246
• Page End: 263
• Publication Date: 2016-04-02
• Subjects: Child day-care -- labour force participation of mother; Economic development -- Periodicals; Economic policy -- Periodicals; Economic history -- Periodicals; 338.9
• DOI: 10.1080/13600818.2015.1082998
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1360-0818

Abstract

Abstract: Mothers from poor families in India have a compelling need to work, but childcare for their young children is a constraint. Public day-care implicit in pre-schooling is provided by India's largest child development programme, which also provides other services, including supplementary feeding, immunisation and health check-ups. Using logit, covariate matching and village-fixed effects methods, I find that in rural India a mother whose child is receiving any of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) services intensely is 15% more likely to work. Among the various pathways, it seems that this effect is driven mainly by the day-care implicit in pre-schooling for their children. There is also some evidence of child health benefits through immunisation and health check-ups received at the ICDS centre which affect mothers' likelihood to work.