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Public Childcare and Female Empowerment: Evidence from Mexico

Hoffmann, Mia LU (2019) NEKP01 20191
Department of Economics
Abstract
Despite ample evidence on the importance of labor market opportunities for women’s bargaining power, the link between public childcare availability and female empowerment has so far been widely overlooked. Using detailed survey data on household dynamics, this paper investigates the impact of the Mexican childcare program Estancias Infantiles para Apoyar a Madres Trabajadoras on women’s decision-making power and the prevalence of intimate partner violence. I take advantage of the program’s rapid expansion and the resulting geographical variation in exposure to isolate the causal impact of childcare availability on women’s empowerment through a triple difference-in-differences model based on municipality-level treatment intensity. Estimates... (More)
Despite ample evidence on the importance of labor market opportunities for women’s bargaining power, the link between public childcare availability and female empowerment has so far been widely overlooked. Using detailed survey data on household dynamics, this paper investigates the impact of the Mexican childcare program Estancias Infantiles para Apoyar a Madres Trabajadoras on women’s decision-making power and the prevalence of intimate partner violence. I take advantage of the program’s rapid expansion and the resulting geographical variation in exposure to isolate the causal impact of childcare availability on women’s empowerment through a triple difference-in-differences model based on municipality-level treatment intensity. Estimates show that childcare availability leads to a decline in the incidence rates of spousal abuse, but also aggravates women’s decision-making power, which points towards yet unobserved household responses to enhanced economic opportunities for women. Disaggregation by income uncovers behavioral patterns best predicted by the male backlash theory among low-income households. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Hoffmann, Mia LU
supervisor
organization
course
NEKP01 20191
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Female empowerment, Intimate partner violence, Household bargaining, Public childcare, Transition economies
language
English
id
8980804
date added to LUP
2019-08-08 10:25:02
date last changed
2019-08-08 10:25:02
@misc{8980804,
  abstract     = {{Despite ample evidence on the importance of labor market opportunities for women’s bargaining power, the link between public childcare availability and female empowerment has so far been widely overlooked. Using detailed survey data on household dynamics, this paper investigates the impact of the Mexican childcare program Estancias Infantiles para Apoyar a Madres Trabajadoras on women’s decision-making power and the prevalence of intimate partner violence. I take advantage of the program’s rapid expansion and the resulting geographical variation in exposure to isolate the causal impact of childcare availability on women’s empowerment through a triple difference-in-differences model based on municipality-level treatment intensity. Estimates show that childcare availability leads to a decline in the incidence rates of spousal abuse, but also aggravates women’s decision-making power, which points towards yet unobserved household responses to enhanced economic opportunities for women. Disaggregation by income uncovers behavioral patterns best predicted by the male backlash theory among low-income households.}},
  author       = {{Hoffmann, Mia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Public Childcare and Female Empowerment: Evidence from Mexico}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}